Artist Daphne Odjig
Title The Living Forest
Media pastel on paper
Dated
1981
Size 24.25 x 18 in. / 61.6 x 45.7 cm.
Frame Size 33.25 x 26.75 x 1.5 in.
Notes
signed and dated lower left; bears title on exhibition and gallery labels verso; framed with archival mat
Reference
illustrated and included in the The Drawings and Paintings of Daphne Odjig: A Retrospective Exhibition, 2007, catalogue 39 on page 104 approx. by Bonnie Devine, published by the National Gallery of Canada, 2007; this exhibition travelled across Canada showing at the Art Gallery of Sudbury, 2007, the Kamloops Art Gallery, 2008 and the National Gallery, Ottawa, 2010; also illustrated on page 58 in Odjig: The Art of Daphne Odjig 1966-2000, by Bob Boyer and Carol Podedworny, published by Key Porter Books Limited, 2001)
Provenance
Gallery Gevik, Toronto, label verso; private collection, Calgary
Biographical Information
Daphne Odjig ~ [1919-2016] Canadian RCA
Odjig was born in 1919 in Wikwemikong, Manitoulin Island, Ontario to an English mother and a Potawatomi father. At the age of thirteen she left school permanently due to rheumatic fever, and instead received art lessons at home from her grandfather who was a stone carver. At the beginning of World War II, she moved to Toronto for job opportunities. In 1945, she moved to British Columbia with her husband Paul Somerville. One of the largest influences on Odjig’s art was the Wikwemikong powwow in 1964. After the powwow, she was inspired to paint both the mythological legends and the lived history of the Anishinaabe. She became a co-founder of the Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. [PNIAI], a group of indigenous artists who advocated for ‘inclusion, recognition, and equal access to art funding.’ Odjig, along with Norval Morrisseau, another member of the PNIAI, was one of the first artists to represent the Anishinaabe culture and philosophy within her work. Her style is characterized by a bold use of colour, strong outlines, and calligraphic curves influenced by her grandfather. In 1971, she opened Odjig Indian Prints of Canada, now known as the Wah-Sa Gallery, to showcase Indigenous artists. In 1972, her art was placed in the Winnipeg Art Gallery, marking the first time an Indigenous artist’s work was shown in a gallery instead of a museum. She was awarded the Order of Canada in 1986. Throughout her life, Odjig was an important and influential advocate for the history and art of Indigenous peoples.
see
Daphne Odjig - A Retrospective 1946-1985 by E.McLuhan, Thunder Bay National Exhibition Centre, 1985;
Odjig: The Art of Daphne Odjig, 1960-2000 by Bob Boyer and Carol Podedworny, published by Key Porter Books, 2001;
Four Decades of Prints, by M.Wood, Kamloops Art Gallery, 2005;
Daphne Odjig, by B.Devine, NGC, 2007
biography and other examples in
Time for Dialogue, by J.Cardinal-Schubert, pg.18, Calgary Aboriginal Awareness Society, 1992;
Dict. Of Canadian Artists, by C.MacDonald, Vol.5, pg.1419;
Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction, by A.Westbridge, Vol.3, pg.58, Westbridge Pub., 2001
listed on Artists in Canada, a Union List of Artists' Files, by National Gallery of Canada Library et al, see website at Canadian Heritage Information Network [CHIN]