Norval Morrisseau
1931–2007
Order of Canada, 1978
Royal Canadian Academy of Art, 1973
Anishinaabe artist and shaman Norval Morrisseau spent four decades redefining the modern Canadian art landscape. In 1969, he found overseas fame when European media named him “Picasso of the North.” The lesser-known Canadian had already earned a similar reputation for being divisive, but unlike Picasso, in his final years of life, Morrisseau was just breaking through.
Morrisseau’s work inspired the creation of the “Indian Group of Seven” collective, a groundbreaking 1970s group of artists who highlighted Indigenous traditions through a new wave of contemporary art. As Morrisseau established himself as a uniquely original artist, he initiated the Canadian style later dubbed woodlands art or legend painting. Art historians ultimately called him the grandfather of contemporary Indigenous art in Canada—high praise for someone once considered an enfant terrible.
Morrisseau’s Anishinaabe themes come bursting through in his 1991 work Family Begins Journey to Higher Enlightenment. Here, he illustrates shamans with spirit animals as they travel together toward their next lives, and we bear witness to Morrisseau’s signature use of assertive black outlines—also known as power lines—while he boldly articulates his landscapes and characters through brilliant and psychedelic colours.
Morrisseau commands his canvas as he invites us into his ever-brighter places and ever-higher planes. This transcendent work represents Morrisseau at his best, revealing his contemporary vision as a vibrant rebirth of his Anishinaabe cultural identity.
