Featured in the Project
About the Project
As the mishomis (grandfather) of an artistic movement within Indigenous contemporary art, Norval Morrisseau’s radical innovations and powerful visual vocabulary have had a profound influence on subsequent generations of artists. The Morrisseau Project 1955-1985 (funded by SSHRC) aims to create a more comprehensive narrative of Morrisseau’s life and work during these formative decades by creating and hosting:
- the Digital Storylines interactive website
- the Medicine Currents art exhibition and Visiting with Morrisseau gathering
- an in-depth research database of Morrisseau’s art and archival materials
- varied public screenings and talks on Morrisseau
- and a comprehensive illustrated book on Morrisseau’s life and art (forthcoming 2025).
Studying Morrisseau’s works at CIRNAC’s Indigenous Art Centre (May 2023).
Our team of curators and researchers, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, from major institutions and beyond, are collaboratively documenting how Morrisseau or Miskwabik Animiiki (Copper Thunderbird) painted, where he made art, the materials he used, his connections with communities, patrons and collectors, and his work in other media.
Morrisseau’s work engages spiritual, political, and sexual subject matter, and demands our engagement within both Anishinaabe and mainstream art contexts.
The identification of the numerous people Morrisseau brought into his life as mentors, friends, and patrons is a vital aspect of the project and one that urgently requires study if living memory is to be preserved. We are working with people who bring a range of perspectives and who can address the artist’s life and art by drawing on different kinds of evidence: including collections documentation, Morrisseau’s sizeable correspondence and writings, and the personal stories of those who knew him.
Artist and Elder Saul Williams discussing Morrisseau’s work with team members at the Royal Ontario Museum (April 2023).
Morrisseau Collectors
Do you have an artwork by Norval Morrisseau? Would you be interested in the possibility of having it included in our research database or featured in the upcoming book on Morrisseau? Fill out a contact form with more information about your artwork and we will be in touch!
Authentication: Note that the Morrisseau Project does not provide evaluations or authenticate works. For those types of enquiries we recommend contacting Morrisseau Art Consulting or the Morrisseau Estate.
