Additional Images

Provenance:

Acquired directly from the artist;
Kinsman Robinson Galleries, Toronto, ON;
Gallery Gevik, Toronto, ON;
Private collection, Ontario

Note:

Morrisseau at his technical finest, Quail Family showcases crisp, well-executed lines combined with the artist’s preference for a balanced composition. The more subtle, earthy palette is in line with the artist’s work from the late 1950s through to the early 1970s, and perfectly captures the bond between a mother and her young.

Animals in the painting exhibit x-ray-like features, and as in lot 64 show the artist’s use of wiry fine lines to connect elements in the composition. Both characteristics are strongly associated with spiritual power in historic Woodlands art. Sometimes called ‘powerlines’, undulating incised cuts found in Great Lakes war clubs and other ritual objects often show the Manitou, the Thunderbird, transferring power to a recipient. In Morrisseau’s work powerlines mark relationships, often forming closed loops. They are sometimes said to be the essential element of his images, Morrisseau’s perception of the quality of interdependence.

References:
Lister Sinclair and Jack Pollock, The Art of Norval Morrisseau (Toronto: Methuen, 1979), 53.