From Publisher "Mythologizing Norval Morrisseau examines the complex identities assigned to Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau. Was he an uneducated artist plagued by alcoholism and homelessness? Was Morrisseau a shaman artist who tapped a deep spiritual force? Or was he simply one of Canada’s most significant artists?
Carmen L. Robertson charts both the colonial attitudes and the
stereotypes directed at Morrisseau and other Indigenous artists in
Canada’s national press. Robertson also examines Morrisseau’s own
shaping of his image. An internationally known and award-winning artist from a remote area of northwestern Ontario, Morrisseau founded an art movement known as Woodland Art developed largely from Indigenous and personal creative elements. Still, until his retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada in 2006, many Canadians knew almost nothing about Morrisseau’s work.
Using discourse analysis methods, Robertson looks at news stories,
magazine articles, and film footage, ranging from Morrisseau’s first
solo exhibition at Toronto’s Pollock Gallery in 1962 until his death in
2007 to examine the cultural assumptions that have framed Morrisseau.
