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From the Collection: Alex Janvier

July 19, 2024

Alex Janvier1

Today, in memory, we are exploring the work of renowned Indigenous painter, Alex Janvier.

Janvier was a member of the Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. (PNIAI), with six other Indigenous painters. His use of vibrant colours and distinctive lines, his blending of personal stories and Indigenous iconography, and his abstract modernist techniques “blazed the trail for many First Nations and Canadian Artists.”

Alex Janvier, Good Soil Road, 1979, serigraph on paper, ed. 10/100, Gallery Moos Portfolio. Collection of the Art Gallery of Peterborough. Gift of Mr. & Mrs. R. Milrod, 1996

Born in Northern Alberta, Cold Lake First Nation, experiences under the institutional oppression of a Residential School would inform a body of work that focused on social justice “Maybe that’s why I was placed on this earth, to shout to the world — This is bullshit!”

Janvier’s career was exceptional, and his works are held in national and international collections, including that of the Canadian Museum of History, where his large-scale mural ‘Morningstar’ adorns the dome. The recipient of numerous prestigious awards, in 2002, Janvier received a National Aboriginal Lifetime Achievement Award, a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2008, was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2007, and has received several honorary degrees from institutions across Canada.


  1. From an interview with Alex Janvier “Artspots: Alex Janvier” by CBC Arts, 2005 “https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.4526728” ↩︎

Posted in Permanent Collection

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