Provenance

Gold Design Fine Arts, Calgary, c.1981

James & Jane McKinney, Calgary

Hodgins Auction, Calgary, Dec. 2023

Private collection, Montreal

Daphne Odjig is one of Canada’s most celebrated Indigenous painters and printmakers. Born on Manitoulin Island’s Wikwemikong reserve of Odawa, Potawatomi and English heritage, Odjig first learned about artmaking from her grandfather, Jonas Odjig, a tombstone carver who taught her to draw and paint. Odjig’s style, which underwent several developments and adaptations from decade to decade, manages to always remain identifiable. Mixing traditional Indigenous styles and imagery with Cubist and Surrealist influences, Odjig’s work is defined by curving contours, strong outlining, overlapping shapes and an unsurpassed sense of colour.

Her work has addressed issues of colonization, the displacement of Indigenous Peoples, and the status of Indigenous women and children, bringing Indigenous political issues to the forefront of contemporary art practices and theory. She was the winner of the 2007 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts and her work is held in numerous public and private collections.