A gallery interior photograph showing Norval Morrisseau's large painting Artist and Shaman Between Two Worlds — a blue thunderbird spreading its wings over a dense field of figures and spirit beings in red, pink, and turquoise — hanging on a museum wall above a viewing bench. Artist

Norval Morrisseau

Religious Art & Worldviews · Artists

The Anishinaabe founder of the Woodland School, who painted the legends of his people in X-ray lines and unmixed color — against the elders' first objections, then with their blessing.

Tagged: Painting Contemporary Commemorative Iconic Woodland School Indigenous and Traditional Native American Religions

Morrisseau (Copper Thunderbird) broke an Anishinaabe reserve about depicting sacred stories because, he said, the stories were being lost. His Woodland style — black formlines, interior 'X-ray' detail, spirit beings in saturated color — founded a school and a market for Indigenous painting in Canada.

The pictured canvas hangs in a public gallery; his work remains in copyright, and this directory shows a freely licensed photograph of it in its public setting, captioned as such.

References

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