Daphne Odjig
(1919-2016) - Artist Biography
Daphne Odjig is one of Canada’s most celebrated and influential Indigenous artists. Her paintings, drawings and prints span over fifty years and Gallery Gevik is pleased to present rare works from the 1960s when Daphne first began to explore her identity through to the more transcendental paintings of the 1990s.
Born in 1919 on Manitoulin Island’s Wikwemikong First Nation, of Odawa, Potawatomi and English heritage, Odjig first learned about art-making from her grandfather, Jonas Odjig, a tombstone carver who taught her to draw and paint. Odjig’s style underwent several developments through the decades, mixing traditional Aboriginal styles and imagery with Cubist and Surrealist influences. Odjig’s work is defined by curving contours, strong outlining, overlapping shapes and an unsurpassed sense of colour. In describing the inspiration for her work, Odjig has said that she “feels all aspects of life, and believes that it is all to be shared and recounted. It may not sound right to celebrate [death], but it is just as important to me to recognize loss and turmoil [as it is] to share joy.” Throughout her life, Odjig’s work has addressed issues of colonization, the displacement of Aboriginal peoples, and the status of Aboriginal women and children, bringing Aboriginal political issues to the forefront of contemporary art practices and theory. In 1973, she was a founding member of the Professional Native Indian Artists Association — otherwise known as the Indian Group of Seven — which included Jackson Beardy, Eddy Cobiness, Alex Janvier, Norval Morrisseau, Carl Ray, and Joseph Sanchez. In Winnipeg a year later, she opened the first art gallery in Canada to represent First Nations artists exclusively.
Daphne Odjig has received many awards and forms of recognition for her work, including the Order of Canada and the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. In addition, she was presented with an Eagle Feather by Chief Wakageshig in 1978 on behalf of the Wikwemikong Reserve in recognition of her artistic accomplishments – an honour previously reserved for great warriors and hunters. She has completed major commissions for Expo 1970 in Japan, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Manitoba Museum and in 1978, her twenty-seven foot masterpiece, The Indian in Transition for the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec. In 1984, her works were featured prominently in a major group exhibition entitled Norval Morrisseau and the Image Makers at the Art Gallery of Ontario. In 2007, a major touring retrospective, The Drawings and Paintings of Daphne Odjig, was organized and curated by Governor General Award-winning artist Bonnie Devine in partnership with the Art Gallery of Sudbury. The exhibition was widely acclaimed and was subsequently seen at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, the Kamloops Art Gallery in British Columbia, the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Saskatchewan and the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Daphne’s profound worldview made her a source of inspiration for many. To young people finding their way, she has said that it is important to “just be yourself and let your imagination, thoughts, beliefs, views, visions — or whatever inspires you — be seen. Be vulnerable, and share what is inside you.” Daphne died in 2016 at the age 96 in Penticton, British Columbia, her home of the previous forty years.
Recent Major Exhibitions
Daphne Odjig: Four Decades of Prints
Touring exhibition of limited edition prints organized by the Kamloops Art Gallery
- Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops BC, June 8 – Aug 31, 2005
- Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg MN, April 22 – July 16, 2006
- Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa January 18 – April 20, 2008
The Drawings and Paintings of Daphne Odjig: A Retrospective Exhibition
Touring exhibition curated & organized by Bonnie Devine in partnership with the Art Gallery of Sudbury:
- Art Gallery of Sudbury, Sudbury ON September 15 – November 11, 2007
- Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops BC June 8 – August 31, 2008
- McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinberg ON Oct. 4 , 2008 – Jan 4, 2009
- Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe NM, June 26 – Sept. 20, 2009
- National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa October 23, 2009 – January 3, 2010
- McKenzie Art Gallery, Regina SK, February 6 – May 15, 2010
Awards and Honours:
Visual Arts:
1963 Member of the British Columbia Federation of Artists
1971 Arts Grant for tour and exhibition of Paintings at the Smotra Folklore Festival, Zagreb, Yugoslavia.
1973 Swedish Brucebo Foundation Scolarship and resident Artist at the Foundation Studio, Visby, Island of Gotland, Sweden
1973 Manitoba Arts Council Bursary
1989 Elected Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art ( R.C.A.)
1993 Presented Eagle Feather by SCANA (Society of Canadian Artists of Native Ancestry) at the 5th National Native Symposium, Halifax NS
2002 Canada Post – Genesis Christmas Stamp
2007 Governor General’s Laureate, Visual & Media Arts. This award is Canada’s highest honour in the field of Visual Arts.
Academia:
1982 Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, conferred by Laurentian University, Sudbury ON
1985 Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, conferred by the University of Toronto, Toronto ON
1993 Doctor of Education, honoris causa, conferred by Nipissing University, North Bay, ON
2002 Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, conferred by Okanagan University College, Kelowna, BC, 08.06.02
2007 Doctor of Letters, honoris causa conferred by Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC (8.06.07)
2008 Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa conferred by The Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto (23.05.08)
2008 Doctor of Laws, honoris causa conferred by the University of Western Ontario, London Ontario (12.06.08)
Leadership and Service:
1977 Canada Silver Jubilee Medal
1978 Presented Eagle Feather by Chief Wakageshig on behalf of the Wikwemikong Unceded IndianReserve in recognition of Artistic Accomplishment, an honour previously reserved for men to acknowledge prowess in hunting or war.
1986 Appointed to the Order of Canada, C.M.
1988–93 Honorary Board Member of the Canada Heritage Foundation
1992 Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada
1993 Presented Certificate of Honour by the En’Owkin Centre and Canada’s Drug Strategy Program, Penticton, BC
1996 Honorary Patron of the Ojibway Cultural Foundation capital campaign, West Bay, ON
1998 National Aboriginal Achievement Award, Toronto, Ontario
2002 Queen Elizabeth II - Commemorative Golden Jubilee Medal
2003 Expression Award – National Film Board of Canada in recognition of work that champions Canadian cultural diversity.
2004 The Art Show , a play about Daphne Odjig’s life and art by Alanis King, produced by Native Earth Performing Arts, premiers inToronto, ON
2007 Catalogue forThe Drawings and Paintings of Daphne Odjig: A Retrospective Exhibition published in Ojibwe as well as English and French, the first time the National Gallery of Canada has published a catalogue in a First Nations language.
2007 Appointed to the Order of British Columbia, Victoria BC (14.06.07)
2007 Crowfoot Mountain Expedition organized in Odjig’s honour (29.07.07)
2008 Lifetime Achievement Award, Okanagan Arts Awards (15.02.08)
2008 Honourary Fellowship, Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada. Calgary AB (26.06.08)
