Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist, Red Lake, Ontario, c.1970

Private collection, B.C.

Norval Morrisseau was the celebrated founder of the Woodland School, which revitalized Anishnabe iconography, traditionally incised on rocks and Midewiwin birchbark scrolls. Morrisseau’s colourful, figurative images delineated with heavy black lines and x-ray articulations, were characteristically signed with the syllabic spelling of Copper Thunderbird, the name Morrisseau’s grandfather gave him. Morrisseau completed many commissions during his career including the mural for the Indians of Canada Pavilion at Expo 67. Morrisseau became a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts in 1970 and was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1978 and, in 1980, received honorary doctorates from both McGill and McMaster universities.