Additional Images

Provenance:

Gallery Moos, Toronto, ON;
Private Collection, Toronto, ON

Note:

“The old porcupine quill designs were angular and straight-edged. In later years, the Hudson’s Bay beads came, and the geometric rigidity was loosened by the freedom of the new beads. This is where my art began, watching the old ladies doing their new free flowing designs.”

As a young teenager, Janvier formed a group of local artists, which attracted the notice of University of Alberta professor Carlo Altenberg, who would tutor the artist for three years during summer breaks. Altenberg introduced Janvier to the European Modernists, particularly the work of Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Joan Miro, with the warning “do not read, study the pictures.”

Janvier went on to graduate with honours from the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary (now the Alberta College of Art and Design) in 1960. After graduation, he became an instructor at the University of Alberta for two years before deciding to paint full-time.

A prolific artist, Janvier’s work is marked by its calligraphic lines and bright colours, producing images which fuse traditional iconography with Western motifs and techniques. Janvier often references colonisation, residential schools and his own lived experience in the thousands of paintings he has produced. He notes that “Art truly is a universal language that can communicate any idea, any feeling, of anyone, regardless of their social standing, their religious beliefs or the language they speak.”

References:
Alex Janvier, Alex Janvier, in 7: Professional Native Indian Artists Inc., ed Michelle LaVallee (Regina: MacKenzie Art Gallery, 2014), 89-90.