Daphne Odjig (1919—2016) was a highly acclaimed visual artist who gained international recognition for her work. Her contributions have made a significant impact on Canadian art. She has been titled the "grandmother of First Nations art" for her immense impact on this field. Her story has been a source of inspiration and admiration for many, not only artists.
Daphne Odjig lived a long, eventful and challenging life. She was born and raised in the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve, situated on Ontario's Manitoulin Island. Her father, Dominic Odjig, the village constable of Ojibwa-Odawa heritage, was a World War I veteran. He met and married an Englishwoman named Joyce Peachey during the war and later brought her to Canada.
The family had four children — two daughters and two sons. Daphne was the eldest among them. They did not live easily, without the usual modern conveniences of running water and electricity, but they had cows and pigs and a beautiful apple orchard surrounding their house. In the future, Daphne would create drawings based on her memories of life at the reserve.
Daphne cherished the recollection of her childhood, which was adorned with the affection and coziness of her home. The tender emotions instilled in her during that time remained with her throughout her life.
The parents loved their children and were eager to educate them. They sent Daphne to school at Jesuit Mission in Wikwemikong. Daphne was an excellent student. She especially loved art lessons, which is unsurprising, as her parents were musically and artistically talented: they both sang well, her mother embroidered beautifully, and her father loved to draw scenes of the past war, of comrades-in-arms. Odjig once stated:
"Art has always been a part of our lives".
Daphne Odjig's grandfather on her father's side Jonas Odjig was a descendant of the great Potawatomi Chief Black Partridge and was significantly involved in Daphne's early artistic education. Daphne Odjig, who went on to become a famous artist, regarded Jonas as her first mentor.
When Daphne was 13 years old, she fell seriously ill and was unable to attend school. During this time, she spent her days with her grandfather. He would tell her ancient legends, and draw with her, and she would watch him work as a stone carver. It was from her grandfather that she learned the skill of drawing. And she maintained her steady hand as a graphic artist until her last days.
The line played a significant role in her work, giving it a unique appeal and defining her artistic style. Odjig said that the line brings her paintings to life: "If you looked at my painting before I got my formline on, you probably wouldn't distinguish what I'm doing. But by the time I got my formline on, everything is in balance, and it's there".
In 1938, Daphne's mother and grandfather passed away, which brought an unexpected and tragic end to her childhood. Soon after that, Daphne along with her sister Winnifred left their hometown to make a living. They worked various jobs to make ends meet. However, it was only after the outbreak of World War II that jobs for women became available in Toronto's factories, particularly in the military. Daphne started working at the Planters Peanuts and Dr. Ballard's dog food plant and later at the John Inglis factory, where she worked on the assembly line making Colt Browning guns.
Most importantly, she found an opportunity to visit museums, libraries, and exhibitions in Toronto. She was exposed to European art and started studying it by meticulously copying paintings of beautiful artists and reading books about the history of painting. She developed a liking towards French masters and started imitating the Impressionists. Later, she became interested in the creative manner of Van Gogh and was fascinated by Picasso. Her first works show the influence of European painters.
In 1945, Daphne, the daughter of a World War I veteran, fell in love with Second World War veteran Paul Somerville and found happiness. The couple moved to British Columbia where Paul started a strawberry farm. Daphne and Paul got married, and she became a stepmother to his son David. In 1948, they had another son named Stanley.
Daphne and her family settled in the Fraser Valley, close to Cultus Lake. Even with her daily responsibilities, Daphne found time to study art, especially the works of Emily Carr and Cornelius Krieghoff. She enjoyed painting and aimed to enhance her skills to portray the beautiful and colorful Canadian nature on canvas.
In 1960, Daphne Odjig went through a tragic loss when her husband Paul passed away in a car accident. Spewing out her pain, she created a piece of art titled "Infinite Cycle". The figures in black represent her family, while the white human-like forms surrounding them symbolize ancestral spirits that offer guidance throughout life.
After managing her late husband's farm for two years, she agreed to marry his old friend Chester Beavon, and her fortunes began to change dramatically.
Chester was given the role of a community development officer by the Manitoba government. As a part of his job, he was responsible for the Chemawawin Cree Nation in northern Manitoba, whose residents had been forced to leave their native land. Daphne Odjig made a series of naturalistic ink sketches that depict the challenges that these people faced during relocation and their daily struggles. She said later: "These portraits are not figments of my imagination; they are real people and actual places. These I want to live forever through the medium of art."
Daphne desired to document her people's life through her artwork and a portrait of her father is among of these drawings. After many years, she had the opportunity to visit the places of her childhood, attend the annual Wikwemikong Pow Wow, and reconnect with the native culture. She was moved by the vibrant and passionate dances, as well as the national legends and tales shared by the elder ladies of the community. Daphne felt overwhelmed with emotion as she re-entered the world of her people.
She began creating a new series of artwork featuring Nanabush, son of the West Wind and great-grandson of the Moon, a half-human, half-spirit hero from various indigenous oral histories. In 1971, she retold and illustrated ten children's books, titled Tales of Nanabush.
Daphne Odjig felt strongly that the immense talent of those who first settled this land needed to be publicly recognized and their rich heritage honored. To achieve this, she blended the centuries-old art traditions of Canada's indigenous peoples with the already accomplished achievements of modern European painting. Her distinct style helped to make the art of these peoples a fundamental aspect of Canadian culture, which was a significant and transformative change in the history of Canadian art.
Earlier, in 1967, a renowned artist Susan Ross (1915 - 2006) organized Daphne Odjig’s first solo exhibition of at the Lakehead Arts Centre in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The exhibition showcased 78 of Odjig's works, which included pastels, drawings depicting the challenges faced by the Chemawawin Cree, and paintings based on Ojibway legends.
In 1968, Daphne Odjig's art exhibition in Brandon was promoted by Bernard Polly, a member of the Brandon University Art Exhibition Committee, with support from the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood.
After exhibiting her art, Daphne received two commissions. The first one was a painting titled "Earth Mother", which was made for the Canadian pavilion at Expo-70 in Osaka, Japan. This artwork was seen by Pablo Picasso.
The second commission was a mural called "The Creation of the World", which was created to commemorate Manitoba's centennial. This mural is displayed at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg.
In 1971, Daphne and her husband moved to Winnipeg, which was Manitoba's main city and acted as a gateway between the cultures of the West and East of Canada. It was here where Daphne Odjig found like-minded Indigenous artists and painted pictures that depicted the inequalities she faced during her youth when in search of work. She even had to temporarily change her last name for a while so that it sounded non-Indian.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Native artists still felt that they did not belong to the mainstream Canadian art world. Although Expo 67 in Montreal represented a cultural leap forward, it was only in the separate "Indians of Canada" pavilion that visitors could see individual works by contemporary aboriginal artists.
Daphne Odjig and Chester Beavon founded Odjig Prints of Canada Ltd. in Winnipeg with the goal of bringing Native art into mainstream Canadian culture. They started with a small print store that sold arts and prints created by talented Indigenous artists, as well as First Nations crafts and books of their legends and stories.
Soon they expanded the shop establishing the New Warehouse Gallery, which became an exhibition venue for Native artists and a place to meet.
It was the birthplace of the Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporated (PNIAI), a new alliance consisting of Jackson Beardy, Eddy Cobiness, Alex Janvier, Norval Morrisseau, Carl Ray, Joseph Sanchez, and Daphne Odjig herself. The original house where the Warehouse Gallery was located is not preserved.
Dominion Gallery Fonds.
The journalist Gary Scherbain, who later became the owner of the Wah-sa Gallery (formerly the Warehouse Gallery), coined the term "The Indian Group of Seven", a title that has remained most closely associated with the group.
The association conducted several successful exhibitions during the 1970s. They took place in Winnipeg in 1974, at the Dominion Gallery in Montreal in 1975, and at the Wallack Galleries in Ottawa and Art Emporuim in Vancouver in the same year.
These expositions demonstrated the authenticity of First Nations' painting as an art form and were considered groundbreaking. It was revealed that without this art, a full and true picture of Canadian culture would not be possible. The exhibitions served as a catalyst for the further creative development of First Nations' culture and opened new possibilities in artistic expression.
The exhibitions, which occurred nationwide, immediately brought First Nations art into the wider Canadian art scene. They gave Native artists a sense of relevance and creative freedom.
In the late 1970s, Daphne and Chester returned to British Columbia. It was in this province where Daphne was first recognized as an artist in 1963, and she became a member of the British Columbia Federation of Artists. This period was the most fruitful in her life, as she now had the opportunity to build a spacious studio where she could paint large frescoes with historical or philosophical content.
Daphne's paintings were based on the legends and tales of her people, and she created complex abstractions to embody her reasoning about good and evil, the path of humanity, and its culture. This is how she succinctly explained the meaning and content of her work: “I see my paintings as a celebration of life. My sub-conscious mind may well dictate some content and I’m content to leave it at that. I am uncomfortable with words - my paintings are perhaps my most honest and legitimate statement”.
The Canadian Museum of History, located in Gatineau, Quebec, proudly exhibits one of Daphne Odjig's finest works, "The Indian in Transition". Many critics consider this 8-meter mural to be just as expressive as Picasso's famous "Guernica". The painting was a symbolic representation of the history of the indigenous people of Canada, for whom it was time for a cultural revival.
Daphne Odjig’s art was more than just a visual expression - it now spoke in full voice, conveying her rich inner world and creative vision. Through her pictures, Daphne Odjig was able to communicate her deepest feelings, hopes, and beliefs.
The theme of family, motherhood, and childhood is particularly poignant in Daphne Odjig's work. This is not surprising, as she grew up in a loving and caring home and was a cherished wife and mother. Her artworks exude an incredible sense of warmth and tenderness.
There is a certain philosophical meaning in such paintings, the idea of the cycle of life, eternity, and immortality.
Daphne's persistent contemplation of the subject matter is evident in her final works.
Daphne Odjig's contributions to Canadian culture have been highly recognized by the country. She has been awarded the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia, honored with the National Aboriginal Achievement Award, Governor General's Laureate, Visual and Media Arts (Canada's highest honor in the field of visual arts). She was an Elected Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art (R.C.A.). Daphne Odjig was presented Eagle Feather by Chief Wakageshig on behalf of the Wikwemikong Reserve, in recognition of artistic achievement, an honor previously reserved for men to acknowledge prowess in the hunt or war. She was the recipient of a wide range of honors, the subject of books, and at least three documentaries.
The works of the self-taught artist are now a part of the collections at the Indigenous Art Centre, Crown-Indigenous Relations And Northern Affairs Canada, National Gallery, the McMichael Gallery, the Canadian Museum of History, Wilfrid Laurier University, Kamloops Art Gallery, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Gevik Gallery, El Al Airlines, and countless other public and private collections. Her paintings have been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Tokyo and Lahr, Germany.
Daphne Odjig passed away on October 1, 2016, as she drifted into the brilliant and amazing colors of a Canadian autumn.
Bonnie Devine, artist, curator and writer, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies, and the Founding Chair of the Indigenous Visual Culture Program at OCAD University, wrote at that time: "Daphne Odjig has died. She was an inspiration and role model for generations of Indigenous artists past, and for generations of Indigenous artists to come; an exemplar of tenacity, guts and grace for those of us who continue the work of defining and securing the place of Indigenous visual culture in the art world of Canada".
Sources
BOOKS
Bonnie Devine, Robert Houle, Duke Redbird. The Drawings and Paintings of Daphne Odjig: A Retrospective Exhibition. National Gallery of Canada, 2007
Joseph Sanchez, Tom Hill, Barry, Ace, Lee-Ann Martin, Cathy Mattes, Carmen Robertson, Viviane Gray, Michelle LaVallee, and Duane Linklater. 7: Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. Mackenzie Art Gallery, 2014
Jann LM Bailey, Morgan Wood. Daphne Odjig: 4 Decades of Prints. [catalog]. Kamloops Art Gallery, 2005
Lucy Kay Riley. Daphne Odjig: Indigenous Art and Contemporary Cultural Practices. Hunter College The City University of New York, 2020
Nanabush and the Dancing Ducks. Retold and illustrated by Daphne Odjig.
Ginn and Co., 1971
Nanabush and the Spirit of Winter. Retold and illustrated by Daphne Odjig.
Ginn and Co., 1971
Elizabeth McLuhan (Author), Tom Hill. Norval Morrisseau and the Emergence of the Image Makers. Carswell Legal / Art Gallery of Ontario / Methuen, 1982
Carmen Robertson. Norval Morrisseau: Life & Work. https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/norval-morrisseau/
Shirley Madill. Robert Houle: Life & Work. https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/robert-houle/
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