Alex Janvier

Alexan Simeon Janvier (; February 28, 1935 – July 10, 2024) was a First Nations painter in Canada. A member of the Indian Group of Seven, he helped pioneer contemporary Aboriginal art in Canada.

Biography Alex Janvier was born on Le Goff Reserve, Cold Lake First Nations, northern Alberta, on February 28, 1935 of Dene Suline and Saulteaux descent.

Janvier received formal art training from the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary (now the Alberta University of the Arts) where he encountered the influence of European modernists. Janvier's practice also drew from the rich cultural and spiritual traditions of the Dene in northern Alberta. He graduated with honours in 1960. He was one of the first Canadian First Nations artists to train in a professional art school.

Immediately after graduation, Janvier took a position as boys' teacher at St. Michael's Indian Residential School at Duck Lake, Saskatchewan, where he created 16 drawings which were first publicly exhibited in 2012. After leaving St. Michael's, he was an art instructor at the University of Alberta. In 1966, the federal Department of Indian and Northern Affairs commissioned him to produce 80 paintings. He helped bring together a group of artists for the Indians of Canada Pavilion at Expo 67, among them Norval Morrisseau and Bill Reid. Janvier ran Janvier Gallery in Cold Lake, Alberta, with his family.

In 2016, a retrospective exhibition of his work opened at the National Gallery of Canada. Also, in 2016 Janvier's large mosaic (Iron Foot Place) was installed at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

Janvier died on July 10, 2024, at the age of 89.

Style Janvier, the 'first Canadian native modernist,' created a unique style of modernist abstraction, his own "visual language," informed by the rich cultural and spiritual traditions and heritage of the Dene in northern Alberta. His abstract style is particularly suited to large-scale works. He made magic arts and three-dimensional works. Two of his stylistic influences among Western artists were Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky while, among Native traditions, he was particularly inspired by the abstract patterns of traditional hide-painting, beadwork and quillwork. He also made references to treaty language in the "ironic and allusive" titles of his art, such as "Sun Shines, Grass Grows, Rivers Flow", grounding his abstract art in political conflicts.

Awards 2018: Member of the Alberta Order of Excellence 2008: Marion 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 1960: Fine Arts Diploma, Alberta College of Art, Calgary, Alberta.

Collections Alberta Art Foundation, Government of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta Alberta Indian Arts and Crafts Society, Edmonton, Alberta AMACO Canada Ltd., Calgary, Alberta Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta The Late Helen E. Band Collection, Toronto, Ontario The Saidye and Samuel Bronfman Memorial Collection, Montreal, Quebec The Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Quebec Cinader Collection, Toronto, Ontario Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Ottawa, Ontario Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa, Ontario City of Edmonton, Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton Public Schools Board, Edmonton, Alberta Esso Oil Resources, Calgary, Alberta Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta Government of Alberta, Edmonton Gulf Oil Resources, Calgary, Alberta 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 Petro-Canada, Calgary, Alberta Shell Canada, Calgary, Alberta Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario Toronto Dominion Bank, Toronto, Ontario Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Record sale prices At the Cowley Abbott Auction of Important Canadian & International Art, December 6, 2023, Lot #20, Janvier's Ancient Relics (1980), oil on linen, 48 x 72 ins ( 121.9 x 182.9 cms ), Auction Estimate: $30,000.00 − $50,000.00, realized a price of $312,000.00.