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NORVAL MORRISSEAU Signature Identification Article 101:
Signature of Norval Morrisseau from the book ''The Art of Norval Morrisseau''/Methuen,1979;0-458-93820-3/ Print edition: 60 (Publisher: Triple K Cooperative Inc.) In this article you will learn valuable information and insight to identifying written and painted signatures done by the Master Artist Norval Morrisseau.Several known and published examples of Norval Morrisseau's signatures will be used as our base reference points in comparison analysis to asertain commonly repeated similarities found in Norval Morrisseau's written and painted signatures.Norval Morrisseau's painted signature can be found on the reverse of many canvas works of art that he created through out his artistic carreer as a Woodland artist. Let us start by showing examples of his signature as found in well known documentations.These pictures were provided to me with permission from Maslak McLeod Gallery-Exibition catalogue 2007.
Letter to Sussanna McLeod Dated 1968-(letter 1.) The letter above was toned black and white for better contrast. *special note:pay close attention to the fact that Norval Morrisseau does what is called ''print writes'' as I coin this phrase.He prints written letters and does not attach them in a normal written script manner.This is a highly distinctive form of caligraphy.Also note the blending of upper and lower case letters through out his correspondence in his letter to Sussanna McLeod (letter 1.).This mannerism and style is reflected in the painted signatures and titles of created artworks by Norval Morrisseau.
Close-up view of Norval Morrisseau's signature in Sussanna Mcleod's letter.
letter 2. N-ORVAL 1.The letter N in Norval can be seen here written in the above three signatures on paper are normal N letters, but appears as two sevens 77 connected to each other when Morrisseau painted them on the back of a finished canvas as can be seen in our below examples of this letter N characteristic which runs consistently many times with his works.The N is always separated from the rest of the letters in his first name.
The first letter N in Norval can also be scene painted onto his canvases in a normal N style.The example below clarifies this fact in relation to Morrisseau's written words onto paper aswell as the signatures in our three examples.
The painting of the letter N has the distinction of being painted with three separate strokes of the brush.This ''three stroke letter N'' can be noticed many times in the -print writing- of titles that Morrisseau placed onto special pieces.Sometimes he just painted the letter N normaly without removing the brush off the canvas.In the many examples provided in this article of the full views of the reverse canvas one can see the N painted in the manner described above with 3 strokes of the brush.
The two letter N's above were taken from samples of Morrisseau titled works. The letters O-R-V 2.The letters O-R and V in his first name NORVAL are always found seperated and Norval Morrisseau capitalizes his letter R.The capitilization of his letter R can be found three times in his entire signature painted on the reverse of his canvases and this correspondence can be found aswell in his written signatures in our 3 examples. In letter 1. above it is clearly seen that Morrisseau wrote with a caligraphy that blended upper and lower case written printed letters.This characteristic is found many times in his paintings he chose to title and on the reverse side along with his signature and date of creation for the piece. *special note-the letter -O- which is found two times in NOrval MOrrisseau's name were drawn on canvas and written on paper in a counter-clockwise fashion.Try to follow the brush stroke in our samples below to see how Morrisseau first touched the canvas with his brush and follow the swing of the letter in a counter-clockwise direction to it's completion to make the letter.
counter clockwise painted letter -O-
Note the separation of letters O-R and V in his written signature in letters 1. 2. and the print signature provided in these examples below. All are showing a clear separation of the letters O-R and V in his first name n-O-R-V-al.The R's are always capitilized-upper case.
The -al 3.The last two letters of Morrisseau's first name are -al and these two letters are always written together and painted together in script form as can be seen in these examples below and in letters 1. 2. and in our print signature example.
M-orrisseau 4.The letter M in Norval Morrisseau's last name is written and painted rather flamboyantly.This letter is always painted and written separately and with one brush stroke as you trace and follow it's path to completion you see how Norval Morrisseau did this.
0-R-R-i 5.The next four letters in Morrisseau's last name are O-R-R-i.These four letters appear always separated as they are written and painted onto the backs of his canvases and on paper.Note the letter ''i'' and how it is dotted up and to the right of the letter bar's top end.The letter ''i'' is also done in a lowercase script manner and found separated.This is a characteristic of his caligraphic style and is seen many times in his written letters on paper and also reflected in his painted signature on the reverse of the canvases he created.You can see this easily in our written signature examples above.
The double -R-R-
Three examples of the upper case written and painted letter R and how it is painted onto the reverse of a canvas done by Norval Morrisseau and written as such in letters he wrote. middle-S 6.Let us examine the first middle letter S as it appears in Morrisseau's last name.Here we have a most remarkable similarity between the look of this letter and the second CREE sylabic letter that Norval Morrisseau paints onto the fronts of his creations! Did Morrisseau do this consciously or sub-consciously? One can only speculate.The sylabics read ''Copper ThunderBird'' on the front of the canvas.The letter S here is always separated in his written signature and Morrisseau painted the letter this way aswell.This can be clearly scene below in our image examples.The photograph of Morrisseau's second CREE sylabic was taken from our painting Titled ''Sacred Medicine Bear'' dated 1979.
The above Cree sylabics spells out Copper ThunderBird.
S-E-A-U 7.The last remaining letters in Morrisseau's name to be adressed are S-E-A-U.These four remaining letters in Morrisseau's last name are always written and painted together in written script form.
The S-E-A-U remaining letters are many times never painted completely.You will find an SEA,SAU,SEAU,SUE or an S followed by a scribbled like trailing of the brush to complete the last four letters with little legibility. 8.*special note-Norval Morrisseau almost always painted and wrote his first name Norval on top of Morrisseau. The Date 9.Norval Morrisseau many times dated his creations.When he did date the pieces he finished,he would only indicate the last two years of the year.Painting it as such 77,80,75,71...etc omitting the century indicator 19th century.
The copyright symbol 10.In addition to the two numbered date scheme Norval Morrisseau applied a copy right symbol ''C'' to his paintings and this was done in a counter-clockwise direction as it was brushed on to the canvas.By carefully following the position of the brush stroke one can easily assertain it's direction on the canvas.
Spelling Mistakes 11.Look for spelling mistakes in the titles that Norval Morrisseau painted onto the reverse of his pieces.The letter attached to this examination will suffice evidence to this fact that Morrisseau was not a great speller at times.Here are a couple of examples of this below.
In the above picture example we can see that Norval Morrisseau mispells the word apprentice and paints it as Apprent-A-ce.
In this example we can see that the word Animal has been mispelled as the word Anima- i-L. Written signature on canvas 12.In our next example we are demonstrating a signed painting in Ball point pen on the reverse side of a canvas.Although it is not 100% clear one can still see the separation of the letters in Norval's first name up to the letter R and the -al- written as attached just like his written signature in our letter example.The double capitilization of the two letters -RR- are still pretty clear to read.The CREE sylabic S can be seen in the centre of Morri-S-seau's name with the written SEAU in script written form.Date of creation 1971 written as -71 with the copyright symbol in place.
Comparison analysis points of similarity:Written signatures versus painted canvas signatures. Example 1.
1.O-R-V in Norval are written/painted separately. 2.capitilization of the letter R in Norval's first name-notice the capitalized letters R in the three words ''co-RR-ect ,f-R-iend and Ha-RR-iet'' in our positive comparison samples found in the double RR examination above in this article. 3.the two letters al-is written and painted attached in lower case. 4.blending of upper and lower case letters. 5.the letter M is identicle in nature and structure. 6.O-R-R-i are detached with the double RR in upper case. 7.dotting of the letter ''i'' in the name Morr-i-seau is up and far away from the top bar's ending and separated in lowercase script. 8.the middle letter S is detached and resembles the second CREE sylabic in his native name ''CopperThunderBird''. 9.the remaining letters SEAU are written/painted together in our canvas example as SEU or SAU. 10.the name Norval is painted on top of the name Morrisseau just as it is written in our samples. Example 2.
1.O-R-V in Norval are written/painted separately. 2.capitilization of the letter R in Norval's first name-notice the capitalized letters R in the three words ''co-RR-ect ,f-R-iend and Ha-RR-iet'' in our positive comparison samples found in the double RR examination above in this article. 3.the two letters al-is written and painted attached in lower case. 4.blending of upper and lower case letters. 5.the letter M is identicle in nature and structure. 6.O-R-R-i are detached with the double RR in upper case. 7.dotting of the letter ''i'' in the name Morr-i-seau is up and far away from the top bar's ending and separated in lowercase script. 8.the middle letter S is detached and resembles the second CREE sylabic in his native name ''CopperThunderBird''. 9.the remaining letters SEAU are written/painted together in our canvas example as SEU or SAU. 10.the name Norval is painted on top of the name Morrisseau just as it is written in our samples. Example 3.
1.O-R-V in Norval are written/painted separately. 2.capitilization of the letter R in Norval's first name-notice the capitalized letters R in the three words ''co-RR-ect ,f-R-iend and Ha-RR-iet'' in our positive comparison samples found in the double RR examination above in this article. 3.the two letters al-is written and painted attached in lower case. 4.blending of upper and lower case letters. 5.the letter M is identicle in nature and structure. 6.O-R-R-i are detached with the double RR in upper case. 7.dotting of the letter ''i'' in the name Morr-i-seau is up and far away from the top bar's ending and separated in lowercase script. 8.the middle letter S is detached and resembles the second CREE sylabic in his native name ''CopperThunderBird''. 9.the remaining letters SEAU are written/painted together in our canvas example as SEU or SAU. 10.the name Norval is painted on top of the name Morrisseau just as it is written in our samples. Example 4.
1.O-R-V in Norval are written/painted separately. 2.capitilization of the letter R in Norval's first name-notice the capitalized letters R in the three words ''co-RR-ect ,f-R-iend and Ha-RR-iet'' in our positive comparison samples found in the double RR examination above in this article. 3.the two letters al-is written and painted attached in lower case. 4.blending of upper and lower case letters. 5.the letter M is identicle in nature and structure. 6.O-R-R-i are detached with the double RR in upper case. 7.dotting of the letter ''i'' in the name Morr-i-seau is up and far away from the top bar's ending and separated in lowercase script. 8.the middle letter S is detached and resembles the second CREE sylabic in his native name ''CopperThunderBird''. 9.the remaining letters SEAU are written/painted together in our canvas example as SEU or SAU. 10.the name Norval is painted on top of the name Morrisseau just as it is written in our samples. Example 5.
1.O-R-V in Norval are written/painted separately. 2.capitilization of the letter R in Norval's first name-notice the capitalized letters R in the three words ''co-RR-ect ,f-R-iend and Ha-RR-iet'' in our positive comparison samples found in the double RR examination above in this article. 3.the two letters al-is written and painted attached in lower case. 4.blending of upper and lower case letters. 5.the letter M is identicle in nature and structure. 6.O-R-R-i are detached with the double RR in upper case. 7.dotting of the letter ''i'' in the name Morr-i-seau is up and far away from the top bar's ending and separated in lowercase script. 8.the middle letter S is detached and resembles the second CREE sylabic in his native name ''CopperThunderBird''. 9.the remaining letters SEAU are written/painted together in our canvas example as SEU or SAU. 10.the name Norval is painted on top of the name Morrisseau just as it is written in our samples. Example 6.
1.O-R-V in Norval are written/painted separately. 2.capitilization of the letter R in Norval's first name-notice the capitalized letters R in the three words ''co-RR-ect ,f-R-iend and Ha-RR-iet'' in our positive comparison samples found in the double RR examination above in this article. 3.the two letters al-is written and painted attached in lower case. 4.blending of upper and lower case letters. 5.the letter M is identicle in nature and structure. 6.O-R-R-i are detached with the double RR in upper case. 7.dotting of the letter ''i'' in the name Morr-i-seau is up and far away from the top bar's ending and separated in lowercase script. 8.the middle letter S is detached and resembles the second CREE sylabic in his native name ''CopperThunderBird''. 9.the remaining letters SEAU are written/painted together in our canvas example as SEU or SAU. 10.the name Norval is painted on top of the name Morrisseau just as it is written in our samples. *Special interest points to remember: a.) Look for tell tale signs of brush trailing to faint recognition of letter characters.Which indicates a single dipping of the brush by the master into the pot of paint as he wrote/painted his name/titles and dates onto the canvas. b.) Look for a counter-clockwise direction brush stroke in the two letter ''O's'' in n-O-rval and in m-O-rrisseau. c.) look for series labeling of painted works.This will show up in Roman Numeral characters and also the images of small ThunderBirds at times.
d.) look for the letter's E and H as they are found in the spelling of attached titled works by Norval Morrisseau.These two letters are found many times incomplete and painted on with difficulty. Jack Pollock Serigraph Example:
Original silk screen limited edition purchased from The Pollock Gallery Limited. Signed, Titled '' My Future Offspring'', Numbered 71/99. Publishers embossed seal Great Grasslands Graphics RTU 1975. Dimensions: Image 12 1/4'' x 18 1/2n''. Outside 18 1/4'' x 25n''. Notes of signature reference: 1.Scripted lowercase letter ''n'' in n-orval's first name resembling two letter sevens''77'' as he writes it. 2.Capitilized letters ''O-R-V'' in n-ORV-al and written separately. 3.Remaining letters ''al'' are lowercase scripted. 4.Letters ''M-O-R-R'' are separate and uppercase printed. 5.Center letter ''i'' is distinctly printed in lowercase and separated. 6.First letter ''s'' in his last name is separately printed and resembles the second Cree sylabic of his name ''Copper Thunderbird''. 7.The remaining four letters ''seau'' are in lowercase and scripted together. This body of work was created by: GALLERIES OF AVALON This Signature Article is a continuing body of work which will be added upon with further examples and known reference points for public use and desemination.Please feel free to make copy of this information for your own needs.Thank You
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