Janvier Gallery
Janvier Gallery
Alex Simeon Janvier, CM AOE RCA LL.D (born February 28, 1935) is a pioneering Canadian First Nation artist known for his contemporary Aboriginal art. As a member of the 'Indian Group of Seven,' Janvier has played a significant role in shaping Canadian Indigenous art. Janvier, of Dene Suline and Saulteaux descent, showed early artistic talent and received formal training at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary. He became one of the first First Nations artists to study in a professional art school. He later taught art at the University of Alberta.
Janvier's unique style of modernist abstraction is influenced by the cultural and spiritual traditions of the Dene people in northern Alberta. Inspired by Western artists like Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, as well as traditional Native practices such as hide-painting and beadwork, Janvier creates large-scale abstract and three-dimensional artwork.