GEORGE MORRISON:

George Morrison or Wah Wah Teh Go Nay Ga Bo (Standing in the Northern Lights) was born on September 30, 1919 in the fishing village of Chippewa City, Minnesota, near the Grand Portage Indian Reservation on Lake Superior. He was born to parents James and Barbara Mesaba Morrison, and was one of twelve children.

Morrison was sent to the Hayward Indian Boarding School in Hayward, Wisconsin in 1928. In 1930, Morrison left Hayward to undergo surgery to treat tuberculosis in his left hip at the Gillette State Hospital for Crippled Children in St. Paul, Minnesota. During his long recovery, he focused on reading and his burgeoning drawing and carving skills.

Morrison graduated from Grand Marais High School in 1938, and received a tribal scholarship to attend the Minnesota School of Art (now Minneapolis College of Art and Design). He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (1943), and was awarded the Derlip Traveling Scholarship, which enabled him to study at the Art Students League (ASL) of New York City (1943-1946).

In New York, Morrison immersed himself into the artistic community of abstract expressionism, exploring various styles of surrealism and cubism. Morrison presented his first major solo exhibition at the Grand Central Moderns Gallery in New York in 1948. His various experiences in New York during the 1940s to 1960s helped Morrison become acquainted with expressionist contemporaries, including Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, Jackson Pollack, and Franz Kline.

In 1952, Morrison received a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and Antibes in Paris, and at the University of Aix-Marseilles. He later was awarded the John Hay Whitney Fellowship in 1953, and moved to Duluth, Minnesota. In 1954, he returned to New York City, where he held numerous solo and group exhibitions.

Morrison taught and exhibited throughout the Midwest and Northeast during the 1950s and 1960s. This included short-term teaching and artist residencies at Cornell University, Pennsylvania State University, and the Dayton Art Institute. He also served as an associate professor of art at the Rhode Island School of Design (1963-1970). In this period, Morrison also developed ties to the artist community of Provincetown, Massachusetts, and sourced the local driftwood of the beaches to construct his early wood collages.

During his art residency at the Dayton Art Institute, Morrison met artist Hazel Belvo. They married in 1960, and their son Briand Mesaba was born 1961. Together they raised Briand and Belvo's two sons from her previous marriage.

In 1970, Morrison accepted a position at the University of Minnesota, where he taught Native American studies and studio art. During this time, Morrison and Belvo renovated a church for their home in St. Paul. Shortly after, they also purchased land on the shores of Lake Superior, near Grand Portage, and established their home and art studio Red Rock.

His return to Minnesota marked a transition from when Morrison's abstract expressionist work merged with and reflected the natural landscapes of his home on Lake Superior, and his Ojibwe heritage. Much of his work took the form of horizon-line paintings, wood collages, and totemic sculptures.

Morrison retired from the University of Minnesota in 1983, and moved to Red Rock full-time. In 1984, he was diagnosed with Castleman's disease. Despite ongoing health problems, Morrison expanded his studio space at Red Rock and continued to produce work throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

George Morrison and Hazel Belvo divorced in 1993, but remained close friends.

In 1997, his sculpture Red Totem was exhibited in the Jacqueline Kennedy Sculpture Garden at the White House. In 1999, Morrison received the Master Artist Award from the Eiteljorg Museum Fellowship for Native American Fine Art.

George Morrison died at his home at Red Rock on April 17, 2000, at the age of 80.

Return to top

The papers include press clippings, exhibition materials, public art project materials, personal calendars, subject files, teaching materials, letters, book reviews, resumes, biographical information, awards and accolades, sketch books, drawings, photographs, and slides. The papers also include: exhibition materials and photographs related to artist and former wife Hazel Belvo; miscellaneous personal papers of his son Briand Morrison; genealogical data, historical information, and photographs regarding the Morrison family and the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa; and his involvement and collaboration with various Native American artists and organizations.

Return to top

Access Restrictions:

Medical records include private information about individuals. Records with private information are closed for 75 years from date of last entry in the record. The restricted records are noted in the finding aid. Researchers must apply for permission to use these records. Please consult library staff for more information.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. George Morrison Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 17,824

Processing Information:

Processed and digitized by: Leif Kopietz, May 2022.

The collection was cataloged and select materials digitized with generous support of The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

Catalog ID number: 9989817539804294

Return to top