Noted Ojibwa painter Norval Morrisseau has been buried in Northern Ontario beside the wife from whom he separated more than 30 years ago.
The interment, which reportedly occurred this week or perhaps even earlier near Keewaywin, ends an almost month-long dispute between some of Mr. Morrisseau's seven children and his long-time caregiver, Gabe Vadas, over what to do with the remains of "the Picasso of the North."
Mr. Morrisseau, who died at 76 on Dec. 4 in a Toronto hospital, had been predeceased by his wife, Harriet Kakegamic, 12 years earlier.
Mr. Vadas, who befriended Mr. Morrisseau in 1987 when both men were down-and-out and living on Vancouver's streets, said the famous painter had told him he wanted to be cremated, in accord with native shamanistic practices.
However, when Mr. Vadas tried to do just that at a Toronto funeral home shortly after the painter's death, four of Mr. Morrisseau's children intervened during the pre-cremation visitation.
They said Mr. Morrisseau, with whom they acknowledge they had limited contact over the years, shouldn't be cremated, and that his corpse should be laid to rest beside their mother, whom Mr. Morrisseau married in 1957. They separated 18 years later.
Reliable sources said yesterday that Mr. Morrisseau was not cremated. Earlier plans had been for his ashes to be divided among family and relatives (as Mr. Vadas had wished) or scattered on Lake Nipigon, Ont., the site of the former Sand Point Reserve where Mr. Morrisseau was born in 1931 (as Bernard Morrisseau, 64, one of the painter's four brothers, said was the late artist's wish).
Theodore Charney, Toronto-based lawyer for the Morrisseau family, offered no comment on the interment, except to acknowledge in a press advisory issued yesterday that "there's ambiguity."
"The remains of Norval Morrisseau will be put to rest in a private ceremony. The Morrisseau and Vadas families ask that the media respect their privacy during this time of sorrow," the advisory says.
Christian Morrisseau, the artist's youngest son, urged the news media "to just stick with" the press release for the time being.
Mr. Vadas was not much more forthcoming when reached at his home in Nanaimo, B.C., yesterday. "Everything's been very peacefully dealt with," he said, adding only that the burial "has already taken place."
One relative who remains unhappy with how the situation was handled is the painter's niece, Bernice Morrisseau Templar of Mississauga, the 45-year-old daughter of Mr. Morrisseau's 75-year-old brother, Ronald, of Thunder Bay.
While she appreciates the care that Mr. Vadas, and later his wife, Michele, gave her uncle over the years, she's upset that her father, her uncle Bernard and virtually all the Morrisseau family found out about the artist's death from the newspapers. It's been estimated that Mr. Morrisseau has as many as 18 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
She also felt Mr. Morrisseau "deserved more" than what Mr. Vadas did in Toronto to honour her uncle's passing, although she had no objections to cremation "if that's what [Mr. Morrisseau] said he wanted." At the same time, Ms. Morrisseau Templar argued that the artist shouldn't have been buried alongside his estranged wife. "He hasn't been with her in 45 years," she said. "There's no romance there. That's gone."
A more appropriate location would be in the vicinity of Lake Nipigon, she said. "That's his ground. ... He came back there as much as he could over the years."
Meanwhile, it appears Mr. Morrisseau's legacy likely will be a source of controversy in the months ahead. It's still unclear whether the artist left a valid formal or written will. If he did not, a court-appointed administrator likely will have to divide among his relatives whatever assets remain in the estate. In 2005, Mr. Vadas, whom Mr. Morrisseau often referred to as his son even though no formal adoption appears to have occurred, helped found the Norval Morrisseau Heritage Society "to research, document and preserve [Mr. Morrisseau's] artistic achievement and to protect the integrity of his art."