Artist RegionOntario
DescriptionUntitled depicts a pregnant woman, accompanied by two figures with both animal and human features. The verso inscription, "Our Sacred Mother the Earth and her offsprings the animal human and birds", indicates the identity of the female figure as an Anishinaabe creator goddess. This painting exhibits distinct hallmarks of Morrisseau's work from the 1960s and early 1970s, including the “x-ray” details characteristic of Anishinaabe/Woodlands art that reveal the internal organs of human and animal figures in bright colours as a shamanistic device, most visible on the breasts of the figure and the bodies of the figures behind her. Her motherly connection to the other figures is portrayed through the usage of red continuation lines drawn between them, a visual signifier Morrisseau uses to denote connections between individuals of the same lineage or species.
Materials Acrylic on paper
ClassificationPainting
Dimensions
100.3 × 77.5 cm (39 1/2 × 30 1/2 in.)
Inscriptions and MarksOn verso in ballpoint pen, "Our Sacred Mother the Earth and her offsprings the animal human and birds" "oh boy", pink pencil drawing of same image on verso. (see images R.1970-1a-c) Recto, in Cree syllabics, "Miskwaubik Animiiki" or Copper Thunderbird (A badly transcribed version of his name).
Object number HUM-1970-00001
In Collection(s):
Credit Line Courtesy Humber Galleries