Alex Janvier

Alex Janvier

Alex Janvier (1935-2024) - Artist Biography

As an artist, educator, and political activist, Alex Janvier made invaluable contributions to his field and while primarily renowned for his striking and lyrical abstract paintings, Janvier also played a key role in the demand for a serious framework for the study and presentation of Indigenous art and in doing so, served as a great inspiration for a new generation of contemporary artists.

Of Dene and Anishnaabe descent, the son of the last customary Chief of Cold Lake, First Nations, Alex Janvier was one of Canada's first Indigenous artists to graduate from art college - the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary - and was co-founder of the country's first Indigenous art collective, Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporated alongside artists Daphne Odjig, Norval Morrisseau, Eddy Cobiness, Carl Ray, Jackson Beardy and Joseph Sanchez. Influenced by the modernist abstractions of Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee while studying under Illingworth Kerr and Marion Nicoll, Janvier's trademark calligraphic and lyrical works consisting of delicate lines and elegant compositions of refined colour, emerged in the early 1960s and until 1976 were signed with the artist's treaty number, 287, in protest of the way the Department of Indian Affairs at the time was promoting the mass production of First Nations art. In Janvier's iconic works, circles are often employed as points of reference, used as metaphors for the cycle of life, embodying the unity and connection of all living things. Curator Greg Hill astutely remarked how it was "rare for an artist to explore and master the circle as Janvier [had], noting how the circle can also be explained as a metaphorical reference to the Land and the cyclical quality of natural processes - life-death-life, light-dark-light, the seasons - as exemplified in the artist's magnificent Morning Star - Gambeh Then' mural at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau."

Through the course of his over sixty-year career, Janvier developed one of the most recognizable styles of his generation, amassing a body of work that is characterized largely by lyrical abstraction, save for a stunning turn to representation in the late 1980s and early 1990s, partly as a write back against Canada celebrating the Columbus Quincentary. At the time many Indigenous artists were motivated to express their own stories and reality through art and many of Janvier's stunning history paintings of this period were featured in the landmark exhibition Land, Spirit, Power mounted by the National Gallery of Canada in 1992. This occurred during an especially active period of resistance on the part of Indigenous protectors of land and resources to stand up against oppression, culminating in the development of Janvier's ideas of landlordship in the early 2000s. It's no coincidence that Janvier had served as a translator for the Cold Lake First Nations Land use study at Primrose Lake. His work on that project provided him with increased knowledge of the land as he worked with senior members of the Dene Nation, identifying and discussing traditional land use and it's evidence in landmarks, traplines, trails, place names, all of which had a significant impact on Janvier's practice moving forward.

Alex Janvier’s incredible achievements as an artist will forever serve as benchmarks by which young aspiring Indigenous artists can guide their own careers and practices. His deep conviction of the importance of art helped him develop and perfect a style that has left a distinct visual demarcation in the Canadian art landscape and he promoted a strong cultural identity, one that "comes through living, learning, art and language, and, importantly . . . through one's own initiative."

Alex Janvier was born in LeGoff Reserve, Cold Lake First Nations, Alberta, in 1935. He was the recipient of many awards and honors over his lifetime, including the Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts, the Order of Canada, the National Aboriginal Lifetime Achievement Award and two Honorary Doctors of Law from the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta. In 1993 a major retrospective organized by the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, traveled to public galleries across Canada followed by a retrospective mounted by the Art Gallery of Alberta in 2012 and the retrospective Alex Janvier: Modern Indigenous Master, organized by the National Gallery of Canada and presented in Ottawa from November 2016 to April 2017. Over his fifty year career, Janvier participated in group shows at the National Gallery of Canada, the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, CA among many others.

Selected Major Exhibitions:
2016 Alex Janvier: Modern Indigenous Master, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, traveling to Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina SK, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton NB, Glenbow Museum, Cagary AB
2014 7: Professional Native Indian Artists Inc., Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina SK
2012 Alex Janvier, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton AB
1993 Alex Janvier: His First Thirty Years 1960-1990, Thunder Bay Art Gallery; retrospective traveling to major galleries across Canada
1992 Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations Art at the National Gallery of Canada, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (traveling exhibition)
1989 In the Shadow of the Sun, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, QC
1987 Eight from the Prairies, Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, ON
1972 Treaty Numbers 23, 287, 1171, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, MB

Selected Awards:
2018 Member of the Alberta Order of Excellence
2008 Mairon Nicoll Visual Art Award, Alberta Foundation for the Arts
2008 University of Calgary honorary degree, Doctor of Laws
2008 Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts
2008 University of Alberta honorary degree (Doctor of Laws)
2007 Member of the Order of Canada.
2005 Centennial Medal for outstanding service to the people and province of Alberta.
2002 National Aboriginal Achievement Award
2001 Tribal Chiefs Institute Lifetime Achievement Award.
2001 Cold Lake First Nations Lifetime Achievement Award.
1992 Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts.

Selected Public Collections:
Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
The Late Helen E. Band Collection, Toronto, Ontario
The Saidye and Samuel Bronfman Memorial Collection, Montreal, Quebec
Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Quebec
Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta
Government of Alberta, Edmonton
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinberg, Ontario
Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
The Late Lester B. Pearson Collection, Ottawa, Ontario
Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario
Toronto Dominion Bank, Toronto, Ontario
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Artist Specialization – Lyrical Abstraction: Janvier’s unique and authentic style, a combination of Indigenous and modern art influences and techniques, is not seen anywhere else in the world. While Janvier recognizes artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Hans Hoffman as influences, his unique style is infused with the iconography of his Dene heritage and culture.