Indian Group of Seven
Encyclopedia
The Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporation, better known as the Indian Group of Seven, was a group of professional Indian
artist
from Canada
, founded in November 1973.
The group combined forces to promote their art work and Indian art in general, into the world of western art and to a change the way the world looked at this art. A shift from an emphasis on “Indigenous (Native)” to “artistic” value.
The group consisted of Daphne Odjig
, Alex Janvier
, Jackson Beardy
, Eddy Cobiness
, Norval Morrisseau
, Carl Ray
and Joseph Sanchez
in Winnipeg
of Jackson Beardy
, Alex Janvier
and Daphne Odjig
named "Treaty Numbers 23, 287 and 1171" referring to the Numbered Treaties
of their respective bands. It was an exhibition where indigenous modern art was brought in front to the Canadian audience, for artistic recognition.
The successful exhibition was the precursor of the foundation of the “Professional Native Indian Artists Association” in November 1973, in which Daphne Odjig
was the driving force. At her home in Winnipeg, she invited Alex Janvier
, Jackson Beardy
, Eddy Cobiness
, Norval Morrisseau
, Carl Ray
and Joseph Sanchez
to discuss their mutual concerns about art.
These meetings provided a sense of community among the artists and a forum for criticism of their work. It resulted in November 1973 into a proposal to formalise their movement into the “Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporation (PNIAI)”, funded by the Department of Indian Affairs. PNIAI was incorporated in February 1974 by all seven members. Haida artist Bill Reid
, although not formally signing on at the time, was considered the eighth member and participated in some of the groups shows.
The group was better known as the “Indian Group of Seven”. The informal name was given to them by Winnipeg Free Press reporter Gary Scherbain referring to the highly esteemed “Group of Seven
” who painted Canadian landscapes in an impressionistic
style in the 1920s.
The “Indian Group of Seven” had many joint exhibitions in Canada. The last in which all participated was in Montreal
in 1975. The group disbanded in 1975.
to a change the way the world looked at their art. They wanted a shift from an emphasis on “Indigenous (Native)” to “artistic” value and recognition. Their objectives where:
These were high ideals in a time where native Indians had only recently been given voting rights and in which they politically fought for human rights. With these ideals, they were part of a movement
which also included the "Triple K Co-operative Incorporated
”, a Native-run silk-screen organisation which established around the same time.
Although the group as a whole was briefly together, the fact that they did exist was a crucial step in the development of the concept
of Indigenous Indian art as part of the Canadian cultural art world
. The existence of the group has paved the way for younger generations.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
from Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, founded in November 1973.
The group combined forces to promote their art work and Indian art in general, into the world of western art and to a change the way the world looked at this art. A shift from an emphasis on “Indigenous (Native)” to “artistic” value.
The group consisted of Daphne Odjig
Daphne Odjig
Daphne Odjig, CM, LL.D. , is an influential Canadian First Nations artist of Odawa-Potawatomi-English heritage. Her many awards include the Order of Canada and the Governor General's Award. Her painting is often characterized as Woodlands Style...
, Alex Janvier
Alex Janvier
Alex Janvier, AOE is a Native Canadian artist. As a member of the commonly referred to “Indian Group of Seven”, Janvier is a pioneer of contemporary Canadian aboriginal art in Canada.- History :...
, Jackson Beardy
Jackson Beardy
Jackson Beardy was a Canadian artist. He was an Anishinini-Indian and his works are characterized by scenes from the holy stories of his people. He belonged to the "Woodland School of Art" and was a prominent member of the “Indian Group of Seven”...
, Eddy Cobiness
Eddy Cobiness
Eddy Cobiness, was a Canadian artist. He was an Ojibwa-Indian and his art work is characterized by scenes from the life outdoors and nature. He began with realistic scenes and then evolved into more abstract work...
, Norval Morrisseau
Norval Morrisseau
Norval Morrisseau, CM , also known as Copper Thunderbird, was an Aboriginal Canadian artist. Known as the "Picasso of the North", Morrisseau created works depicting the legends of his people, the cultural and political tensions between native Canadian and European traditions, his existential...
, Carl Ray
Carl Ray
Carl Ray was a First Nations artist who was active on the Canadian art scene from 1969 until his passing in 1978. Considered primarily a Woodlands Style artist, he also painted European style wildlife and landscapes...
and Joseph Sanchez
Joseph Sanchez
Joseph M. Sanchez is an artist and museum curator.-Biography:Although born Taos Pueblo, Sanchez was raised in Whiteriver, Arizona on the White Mountain Apache Reservation, and was named by the Ojibway....
History
In 1972, there was a joint exhibitionArt exhibition
Art exhibitions are traditionally the space in which art objects meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhibition". In American English, they may be called "exhibit", "exposition" or...
in Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
of Jackson Beardy
Jackson Beardy
Jackson Beardy was a Canadian artist. He was an Anishinini-Indian and his works are characterized by scenes from the holy stories of his people. He belonged to the "Woodland School of Art" and was a prominent member of the “Indian Group of Seven”...
, Alex Janvier
Alex Janvier
Alex Janvier, AOE is a Native Canadian artist. As a member of the commonly referred to “Indian Group of Seven”, Janvier is a pioneer of contemporary Canadian aboriginal art in Canada.- History :...
and Daphne Odjig
Daphne Odjig
Daphne Odjig, CM, LL.D. , is an influential Canadian First Nations artist of Odawa-Potawatomi-English heritage. Her many awards include the Order of Canada and the Governor General's Award. Her painting is often characterized as Woodlands Style...
named "Treaty Numbers 23, 287 and 1171" referring to the Numbered Treaties
Numbered Treaties
The numbered treaties are a series of eleven treaties signed between the aboriginal peoples in Canada and the reigning Monarch of Canada from 1871 to 1921. It was the Government of Canada who created the policy, commissioned the Treaty Commissioners and ratified the agreements...
of their respective bands. It was an exhibition where indigenous modern art was brought in front to the Canadian audience, for artistic recognition.
The successful exhibition was the precursor of the foundation of the “Professional Native Indian Artists Association” in November 1973, in which Daphne Odjig
Daphne Odjig
Daphne Odjig, CM, LL.D. , is an influential Canadian First Nations artist of Odawa-Potawatomi-English heritage. Her many awards include the Order of Canada and the Governor General's Award. Her painting is often characterized as Woodlands Style...
was the driving force. At her home in Winnipeg, she invited Alex Janvier
Alex Janvier
Alex Janvier, AOE is a Native Canadian artist. As a member of the commonly referred to “Indian Group of Seven”, Janvier is a pioneer of contemporary Canadian aboriginal art in Canada.- History :...
, Jackson Beardy
Jackson Beardy
Jackson Beardy was a Canadian artist. He was an Anishinini-Indian and his works are characterized by scenes from the holy stories of his people. He belonged to the "Woodland School of Art" and was a prominent member of the “Indian Group of Seven”...
, Eddy Cobiness
Eddy Cobiness
Eddy Cobiness, was a Canadian artist. He was an Ojibwa-Indian and his art work is characterized by scenes from the life outdoors and nature. He began with realistic scenes and then evolved into more abstract work...
, Norval Morrisseau
Norval Morrisseau
Norval Morrisseau, CM , also known as Copper Thunderbird, was an Aboriginal Canadian artist. Known as the "Picasso of the North", Morrisseau created works depicting the legends of his people, the cultural and political tensions between native Canadian and European traditions, his existential...
, Carl Ray
Carl Ray
Carl Ray was a First Nations artist who was active on the Canadian art scene from 1969 until his passing in 1978. Considered primarily a Woodlands Style artist, he also painted European style wildlife and landscapes...
and Joseph Sanchez
Joseph Sanchez
Joseph M. Sanchez is an artist and museum curator.-Biography:Although born Taos Pueblo, Sanchez was raised in Whiteriver, Arizona on the White Mountain Apache Reservation, and was named by the Ojibway....
to discuss their mutual concerns about art.
These meetings provided a sense of community among the artists and a forum for criticism of their work. It resulted in November 1973 into a proposal to formalise their movement into the “Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporation (PNIAI)”, funded by the Department of Indian Affairs. PNIAI was incorporated in February 1974 by all seven members. Haida artist Bill Reid
Bill Reid
William Ronald Reid, OBC was a Canadian artist whose works included jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and painting. His work is featured on the Canadian $20 banknote.-Biography:...
, although not formally signing on at the time, was considered the eighth member and participated in some of the groups shows.
The group was better known as the “Indian Group of Seven”. The informal name was given to them by Winnipeg Free Press reporter Gary Scherbain referring to the highly esteemed “Group of Seven
Group of Seven (artists)
The Group of Seven, sometimes known as the Algonquin school, were a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920-1933, originally consisting of Franklin Carmichael , Lawren Harris , A. Y. Jackson , Franz Johnston , Arthur Lismer , J. E. H. MacDonald , and Frederick Varley...
” who painted Canadian landscapes in an impressionistic
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
style in the 1920s.
The “Indian Group of Seven” had many joint exhibitions in Canada. The last in which all participated was in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
in 1975. The group disbanded in 1975.
Political and social ideals
Beside combined forces to promote Indian art into the Western art world, they had strong IdealsIdeal (ethics)
An ideal is a principle or value that one actively pursues as a goal. Ideals are particularly important in ethics, as the order in which one places them tends to determine the degree to which one reveals them as real and sincere. It is the application, in ethics, of a universal...
to a change the way the world looked at their art. They wanted a shift from an emphasis on “Indigenous (Native)” to “artistic” value and recognition. Their objectives where:
- to develop a fund to enable artists to paint;
- to develop a marketing strategyStrategyStrategy, a word of military origin, refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. In military usage strategy is distinct from tactics, which are concerned with the conduct of an engagement, while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked...
involving prestigious commercial galleries in order to enable exhibit their work; - to travel to aboriginalIndigenous peoplesIndigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
communities to stimulate young artists; - to establish a trustTrust lawIn common law legal systems, a trust is a relationship whereby property is held by one party for the benefit of another...
fund, using a portion of the sales of artworks, for scholarship programme for emerging artists.
These were high ideals in a time where native Indians had only recently been given voting rights and in which they politically fought for human rights. With these ideals, they were part of a movement
Social movement
Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....
which also included the "Triple K Co-operative Incorporated
Triple K Co-operative
Triple K Co-operative Incorporated was a Canadian Native-run silk-screen company in Red Lake, Ontario that produced high quality limited editions of several artist within the “Woodland school of Art” from 1973 till early 1980s....
”, a Native-run silk-screen organisation which established around the same time.
Although the group as a whole was briefly together, the fact that they did exist was a crucial step in the development of the concept
Concept
The word concept is used in ordinary language as well as in almost all academic disciplines. Particularly in philosophy, psychology and cognitive sciences the term is much used and much discussed. WordNet defines concept: "conception, construct ". However, the meaning of the term concept is much...
of Indigenous Indian art as part of the Canadian cultural art world
Art world
The art world is composed of all the people involved in the production, commission, preservation, promotion, criticism, and sale of art. Howard S. Becker describes it as "the network of people whose cooperative activity, organized via their joint knowledge of conventional means of doing things,...
. The existence of the group has paved the way for younger generations.
External links
- Indian Group of Seven Website "Native Art In Canada".
General references
- Bailey, Jan and Morgan Wood. Daphne Odjig: Four Decades of Prints. Kamloop Art Gallery, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, 2005. ISBN 1895497612
- Martin, Lee-Ann and Robert Houle. The Art of Alex Janvier: His First Thirty Years, 1960-1990. Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Ontario, Canada, 1993. ISBN 0920539416
- Native Art In Canada website, 2007
- Hughes, Kenneth. The Life and Art of Jackson Beardy. Winnipeg: Canadian Dimension Publishers; Toronto: J. Lorimer, 1979. ISBN 0888622783