The Survivalistic Perspective

RESPONSES TO WOODLAND ART The Survivalistic Perspective The commercialsuccess of the work of Norval Morrisseau and his followers has beenaccompanied by a confused and confusing critical reception.

Norval Morrisseau has often been referred to as a "Shaman" as though he livedin a pristine tribal socie ty and his works have been commonly referred to as"Primitive art." Rarely have Woodland School artists been presented as living inthe twentieth century.

Native works are identified as "Serious fine art" or "High art" only if they fit thestraight-line development from the narrative and represen tational canons ofearlier European art to the abstract and subjective modes of modern Westernart.

As a result the assumption is fre quently made that Woodland
Such a "Museum view" freezes Indians in "History," and the oppor tunity tochallenge this stereotype by placing Indian art with other expressions ofcontemporary Canadian culture is lost.

The Revivalistic Perspective The view of Woodland painting as the art ofsurviving primitives is related to a second perspective which has frequentlyappeared in media coverage.

The underlying logic of this perspective appears to be that although Indianculture is dying, it can be preserved and given renewed vigor by the pro ductionof traditional arts and crafts.

Terms such as "Revival," "Renewal," "Record ing," "Revitalization," and"Renaissance" commonly occur in references to Woodland School art.

As is the case with all stereotypical views, the problem with the revivalisticperspective on contemporary Indian art is not that it is totally false, but that itdistorts the nature of this art.

This viewpoint has important implications for the perception of contemporaryIndian-produced art because it maintains that if Indian art is not recognizably"Tribal," it cannot be considered authentic, and is instead the art of anassimilated person who has lost his or her sense of Indian
Rather than perpetuating an unchanging past, the imagery of a great deal ofWoodland art sym bolizes continuity with the past and also attempts to projecta message to both non-Indians and Indians that Indian culture is distinct andvaluable in the modern world.

As Graburn has written of such Fourth World art forms, "...they carry themessage: 'We exist; we are different; we can do something we are proud of;we have something that is uniquely ours'".

The Indian artist and art historian Robert Houle calls Odjig's mural "The firstcommissioned work to make a direct statement regarding the Canadian Indianby a Native artist in this country".

There is a further aspect to the revitalization goals of some Woodland