Read the following passage.
A. Every painting sold on the first day. That was the result in 1962, when the Pollock Gallery in Toronto showed the work of Norval Morrisseau, an Anishinaabe artist from Ontario. No Indigenous artist had shown work in a Canadian gallery of contemporary art before, and the show turned him into a celebrity almost at once. Success had a price, however. Critics gave his art mixed reviews, calling it modern, primitive or a combination of both, and his private life was also closely watched.
B. Morrisseau was raised by his mother's parents at the Sand Point reserve beside Lake Nipigon, and his grandfather taught him the stories and cultural traditions of his people. At the age of six he was sent to a residential school, and at St. Joseph's Indian Residential School in Fort William he was mistreated. As a boy he wanted to draw sacred subjects such as the Thunderbird, but some community members and relatives discouraged him, because Anishinaabe protocols forbid sharing ceremonial knowledge. When he was nineteen he became critically ill, and his family arranged a healing ceremony, in which he was given the name Miskwaabik Animiiki, or Copper Thunderbird.
C. His career after 1962 had high and low points. For Expo 67 in Montreal he designed a mural showing bear cubs being nursed by Mother Earth, but when organizers raised concerns, he left the project rather than censor his drawing. In 1973 he was arrested for public drunkenness and held for six months in Kenora, where he was given an additional cell to use as a studio. He was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1978, and in 2006 the National Gallery of Canada showed a retrospective of his work, its first for a contemporary Indigenous artist. He died in 2007 of complications of Parkinson's disease.
D. Forged paintings became a serious problem. Before his death, Morrisseau knew that fraudulent works were being sold under his name, but authorities did not take his claims seriously. In 2019 the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that a Toronto gallery had sold the musician Kevin Hearn a painting with unreliable and likely false documents. In March 2023 police charged eight people in connection with a forgery ring that operated out of Thunder Bay from 1996 to 2019, and more than 1,000 paintings were seized. Critics argue that the ring was able to run almost unchecked for over twenty years, and that the slow response shows how the claims of Indigenous people have often been played down.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: C
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: in 1973 he was held for six months in Kenora. There he was given an additional cell to use as a studio. An extra cell is extra room, and a studio is a place to make art.
Passage Reference: In 1973 he was arrested for public drunkenness and held for six months in Kenora, where he was given an additional cell to use as a studio.
Tips: Trouble with the law comes up more than once. Find the time he himself was locked up, and check what extra space he got for his art.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph covers his first Toronto show and how critics saw it. He is not in custody there.
- B: The second paragraph describes his childhood and a serious illness at nineteen, but no arrest or cell.
- D: In paragraph D, the topic is forged works and a court ruling that involved a gallery, not time he spent in jail.
- E: Paragraph C tells us about his six months in Kenora and the spare cell he painted in.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: When he was nineteen he became critically ill, and his family arranged a healing ceremony, in which he was given the name Miskwaabik Animiiki, or Copper Thunderbird.
Why this is correct: In paragraph B, he became critically ill at nineteen and his family arranged a healing ceremony. During it he received the name Copper Thunderbird. A ritual to cure him is a healing ceremony.
Tips: The passage mentions illness more than once. Pick the time when people hold a ritual for him, and check that a new name follows.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph introduces him by the name Norval Morrisseau at his 1962 show and says nothing about an illness.
- C: Parkinson's disease comes up at the end of paragraph C, but there is no ceremony or new name.
- D: Paragraph D uses his name only when it says fake works were sold under it. No new name is given.
- E: Paragraph B tells the story of the healing ceremony and the name Copper Thunderbird.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: At the age of six he was sent to a residential school, and at St. Joseph's Indian Residential School in Fort William he was mistreated.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph B: he was sent to a residential school at the age of six. At St. Joseph's in Fort William he was mistreated. Six is early childhood, and 'mistreated' means treated badly.
Tips: Several paragraphs show him treated unfairly. Look for the one about a school, and check how young he was when it happened.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: In paragraph A, critics were unkind about his art as an adult, which is different from harm at school.
- C: The third paragraph describes an arrest in 1973, when he was a grown man, not his school years.
- D: The fourth paragraph says authorities ignored his complaints about fakes. That is unfair treatment late in life, not at school.
- E: Paragraph B names the school in Fort William and says what happened to him there.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: In 2019 the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that a Toronto gallery had sold the musician Kevin Hearn a painting with unreliable and likely false documents.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph D reports a ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal. A Toronto gallery sold Kevin Hearn a painting with unreliable and likely false documents. Misleading paperwork means documents that cannot be trusted.
Tips: Find what the judges decided about a sale. Then check what was wrong with the papers the buyer received.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: There is a Toronto gallery in paragraph A too, but there the paintings sold honestly on the first day of his show.
- B: The second paragraph is about his childhood and has no buyers or courts.
- C: In paragraph C, there is an arrest. But that was a police matter about his own behaviour, not a ruling on a sale.
- E: The court ruling about Hearn's painting appears in paragraph D.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Every painting sold on the first day.
Why this is correct: Paragraph A opens with the scene: every painting sold on the first day. This was his 1962 show at the Pollock Gallery in Toronto. 'Within a single day' matches 'on the first day'.
Tips: Paragraph D also talks about selling paintings. This statement is about 1962.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph covers his early life before any exhibition, so no sales appear in it.
- C: The third paragraph starts after 1962 and lists later events such as the Expo mural and a retrospective.
- D: In paragraph D, fake works are sold much later. These are not the real paintings at his first show.
- E: The sell-out on the first day is the opening scene of paragraph A.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Critics gave his art mixed reviews, calling it modern, primitive or a combination of both, and his private life was also closely watched.
Why this is correct: In paragraph A, critics gave his art mixed reviews, calling it modern, primitive or a combination of both. Mixed reviews show that the reviewers were divided.
Tips: Three paragraphs show people objecting to something. Ask which group was judging his style.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Community members and relatives discouraged his drawings of sacred subjects in paragraph B. They were not art reviewers.
- C: In paragraph C, Expo organizers raised concerns about one mural. That is a single objection, not a split among critics.
- D: The fourth paragraph reports criticism of the slow official response to the forgeries, not reviewers judging his style.
- E: Paragraph A reports the mixed reviews and the different labels critics used.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: For Expo 67 in Montreal he designed a mural showing bear cubs being nursed by Mother Earth, but when organizers raised concerns, he left the project rather than censor his drawing.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: organizers raised concerns about his Expo 67 mural in Montreal. He left the project rather than censor his drawing. Here 'censor' means change or cut.
Tips: Find the wall picture planned for Montreal. Then check why he walked away from it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph describes a gallery show in Toronto that went very well. He left nothing.
- B: Relatives discouraged some of his drawings in paragraph B, but he did not walk away from a project.
- D: In paragraph D, other people copy his work. That is not a choice he made over his own design.
- E: The Expo 67 mural and his decision to leave appear in paragraph C.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: In March 2023 police charged eight people in connection with a forgery ring that operated out of Thunder Bay from 1996 to 2019, and more than 1,000 paintings were seized.
Why this is correct: In paragraph D, police charged eight people in March 2023, and Morrisseau himself had complained years earlier. It never says who reported the forgery ring or what started the police inquiry.
Tips: Paragraph D names Hearn and Morrisseau as people who were affected. Check whether it says who started the police case.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Critics and public interest in his private life are in paragraph A, but no police and no family complaint.
- B: The second paragraph describes his grandparents and his family's healing ceremony, long before any forgeries existed.
- C: The arrest in 1973 in paragraph C was about his own drinking, not about copies of his work.
- D: Paragraph D gives the charges and the number of paintings seized. Yet it does not say who went to the police.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: In March 2023 police charged eight people in connection with a forgery ring that operated out of Thunder Bay from 1996 to 2019, and more than 1,000 paintings were seized.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph D: police charged eight people in March 2023, and more than 1,000 paintings were seized. 'Took away' means seized, and 'over a thousand' means more than 1,000.
Tips: Look for the fraud inquiry first. Then check the number of works that investigators took away.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph counts the paintings sold at his first show, not paintings taken by police.
- B: In paragraph B, you read about his early drawings of sacred subjects. Nothing is seized.
- C: A retrospective of his work in 2006 is in paragraph C. It gathered paintings for display, not for an investigation.
- E: The number of paintings police seized is given in paragraph D.
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