George Morrison

Traversal

After completing a Fulbright fellowship in France, Ojibwe artist George Morrison frequently traveled between his home state of Minnesota and New York City, where he settled in 1954. Traversal marks a transition in Morrison’s practice from small-scale cubist drawings to large-scale paintings. Exposed to the booming Abstract Expressionist movement in mid-1950s New York, Morrison began to incorporate energetic movement into his paintings, which he created in one take. In Traversal, his large, gestural brushstrokes build bold blocks of color that traverse one another. Traversal is emblematic of the action painting that emerged during this period of Abstract Expressionism, when artists—including Morrison—prioritized process over content and gesture over subject.