Alex Janvier

Alex Janvier
Born (1935-02-28) February 28, 1935
Le Goff Reserve, Cold Lake First Nations, Alberta, Canada
Nationality Canadian
Education Self taught, Alberta College of Art and Design
Known for Painting
Movement Indian Group of Seven
Morning Star (Detail), Alex Janvier, 1993

Alex Simeon Janvier, AOE (born February 28, 1935) is a Native Canadian artist. As a member of the commonly referred to “Indian Group of Seven”,[1] Janvier is a pioneer of contemporary Canadian aboriginal art in Canada.

History

Alex Janvier was born on Le Goff Reserve, Cold Lake First Nations, northern Alberta on February 28, 1935[2] of Dene Suline and Saulteaux descent. At the age of eight, he was sent to the Blue Quills Residential Indian School near St. Paul, Alberta, where the principal recognized his innate artistic talent and encouraged him in his art. Alex Janvier received formal art training from the Alberta Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary (now the Alberta College of Art and Design) and graduated with honours in 1960. Immediately after graduation, Janvier took up an opportunity to instruct art 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 currently runs a gallery called Janvier Gallery in Cold Lake, AB with his family.[3]

Style

Alex Janvier, the 'first Canadian native modernist,' [4] has 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 makes magic arts and 3d arts.

Politics

Alex Janvier signed his paintings with his Treaty Number from 1966 to 1977 to protest government policies against Aboriginal people.[5]

Morning Star

At the river end of the Grand Hall of the Canadian Museum of History is a dome rising seven stories above the granite floor. Nineteen metres (62 feet) in diameter, the dome is adorned with Alex Janvier's striking abstract painting Morning Star. With the assistance of his son Dean, Janvier began painting in June 1993 and finished in September the same year. Morning Star covers 418 square metres (4,500 square feet).

The title Morning Star refers to the morning star as a guide or a means of finding direction. Each of the four distinct areas of colour in the outside ring represents a period in Native history:

"In the yellow quadrant, a balance of colour and shape reflects a time when the First Peoples were in harmony with nature, with the Great Spirit, and with each other. However, also represented in this yellow area is the arrival of Columbus in 1492, which changed the world of the First Peoples forever.

In the blue quadrant, a lack of decoration signifies the weakness of Native culture, overwhelmed by European culture. According to Janvier, the more Christianized Native people became, the more they turned to organic, flowing designs and the less they produced geometric designs.

The red quadrant depicts a time of revival and a new optimism. Struggle and disenchantment give way to a new determination on the part of First Peoples to take charge of their own future.

The last quadrant, white to link back to the white centre of Morning Star, portrays healing, renewed self-respect, reconciliation and restructuring - a return to a state of harmony. It represents the period following the point at which Janvier created Morning Star." [6]

Awards

Films and television

Education

Collections

References

  1. ↑ Native Art in Canada
  2. ↑ http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/alex-janvier/
  3. 1 2 Canadian Council for the Arts
  4. ↑ Center for Canadian Contemporary Art
  5. 1 2 National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation
  6. ↑ Canadian Museum of History
  7. ↑ Alberta's top citizens chosen to receive province's highest honour

External links

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