Eddy Cobiness

Infobox Artist
bgcolour = #aaa
birthdate = birth date|1933|.|.|mf=y
location = Warroad (Minnesota, United States)
deathdate = death date and age|1996|1|1|1933|.|.|mf=y
deathplace = Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
nationality = Canadian
field = Painting
training = Self taught
movement = Woodland School of Art and Indian Group of Seven.
works =
patrons =
awards =

Eddy Cobiness, Warroad (Minnesota, United States), 1933 – Winnipeg (Manitoba, Canada), January 1, 1996 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 evolve into more abstract work. He belonged to the “Woodland school of Art” and was a prominent member of the "Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporation”, better known as the “Indian Group of Seven”.

Life

Cobiness grew up on Buffalo Point First Nation's Indian reserve in southeast Manitoba. Like the other members of the “Indian Group of Seven", Jackson Beardy, Alex Janvier, Norval Morrisseau, Daphne Odjig, Carl Ray and Joseph Sanchez, Cobiness was a so-called “Treaty Indian”. He belonged to a tribe which Canada has signed a treaty under the “Indian Act of Canada”.Cobiness has taught painting himself. He was a graphic designer who began drawing pictures of birds in sand, snow or on cardboard, in his childhood. In the 1950s, during his military service years, he discovered working in watercolour. He studied colour and composition. In the 1960s his ink and watercolour drawings were commercially successful, and he began his art career. For Cobiness, the life outdoors and nature always was subject of his works. He began with realistic scenes and then evolve into more abstract work, influenced by his art colleague at the time, painter Benjamin Chee Chee. He further developed his work unimpeded and worked with several styles, using many media. It would bring him international recognition. It is known that Queen Elizabeth II has work of Cobiness in her collection. Cobiness died in Winnipeg, Manitoba on January 1, 1996 to the effect of complications from diabetic.

External links

* [http://www.seventhgenerationgallery.com/ Seventh Generation Gallery] "Native Contemporary Canadian Art Gallery" in the Netherlands, including art of Eddy Cobiness.
* [http://www.native-art-in-canada.com/eddycobiness.html Eddy Cobiness member of the Indian Group of Seven] Website "Native Art In Canada".

References

* Eddy Cobiness et al., “The Flowering Art Of Cobiness”, Cobiness Print, Buffalo Point Reserve, Canada, 1985
* Native Art In Canada website, 2007