THUNDER BAY – The 22-foot-long and 9-foot-4-inch-tall rare Norval Morrisseau painting, called Morrisseau Masterwork, now welcomes guests as soon as they walk through the front door of the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.
The painting has not been seen in 40 years, and those who got a chance to look at it before it was put into storage have only seen it lying on the floor, Meaghan Eley, gallery collection manager, told Newswatch on Friday. It’s on loan to the gallery for the rest of the year.
“It was last seen in 1986. It was painted in 1985, shown briefly shortly after that, and then it’s been in storage since then,” she explained.
“It’s one of the largest, if not the largest, paintings in one piece that Norval Morrisseau ever completed. He did a lot of panel paintings that had many parts, but I haven’t seen one that’s bigger than this in one piece. So, it’s significant from the sheer size.”
Eley said she interprets the piece as a representation of togetherness.
“It’s this idea of gathering of people, of animals, of life coming together. It really is showcasing the positivity of what we can do when we gather and the sharing of community, which is so important, especially when things are looking dire in other parts of the world. It’s just a reminder that we reach out and we help each other, and we share, and we form this really great community,” she said.
Norval Morrisseau was an Indigenous Canadian artist from the Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation. He is widely considered one of the most significant artists in Canada who often promoted the Woodland style of art. Morrisseau’s work has also been the subject of one of Canada’s largest art forgery investigations.
“It’s significant for us as a gallery in this region to really promote and show his work, as we do with other artists from this area,” Eley said.
She said it was an unbelievable moment for the art gallery staff when they pulled the rare piece out of its crate and rolled it out onto the floor.
“We opened it up in our large gallery. We had a whole team around us, and I think everybody just stopped. Everybody paused. It was something I’d never seen before. I’ve worked with a lot of Norval Morrisseau’s work, a lot of artists’ work over the years, but this one was just something special that I’d never seen before. I’ll never forget that moment of seeing it for the first time,” Eley said.
The piece is on loan to the gallery from EA Studios Jasper Limited, based in Calgary, Alberta, she said.
Morrisseau Masterwork will be on display until January 3, 2027.
