Louis de Niverville : Pentimenti

Louis de Niverville (1933–2019) was a painter and collagist. His experimental and thought-provoking art, often mislabelled as “surrealist,” defied simple categorization. The ninth of thirteen children, young Louis was sent to a sanatorium in Ottawa for treatment of spinal tuberculosis at age six. He remained there for four and a half years. This long-term confinement would become a major influence on his art. Hired as an illustrator by the CBC in the late 1950s, de Niverville quickly immersed himself in the burgeoning Toronto art scene. His work relied heavily on his dreams and daydreams, and explored aspects of the individual, culture and nature, and often featured surreal “inside-outside” spaces. At a time when Abstract Expressionism and its offshoots were dominant in the international art world, Louis’s early exhibitions in Toronto quickly seized the attention of respected art critics, and de Niverville was flagged as an artist to watch. This reputation plus a number of private commissions, including large-scale murals for Pearson International Airport and Spadina subway station, both in Toronto, helped thrust de Niverville to the forefront of the Toronto scene in the 1960s and 1970s. Edited by Thomas Miller—de Niverville’s partner of many decades and an artist in his own right—and international art dealer Philip Ottenbrite, Louis de Niverville: Pentimenti includes texts from renowned art critics and curators Tobi Bruce, Ihor Holubizky, and E.C. Woodley, which trace de Niverville’s rise in the Toronto scene, and which also provide critical art historical context to the depth and breadth of his unique practice. Heather Bell’s biographical piece on de Niverville’s childhood illuminates a practice seemingly born of childhood trauma and whimsy. Featuring more than 140 art reproductions and archival images, this is an in-depth examination of an artist who, in his unique portrayals of the individual, encouraged the exploration of the universal.

Louis de Niverville (1933–2019) was a painter and collagist. His experimental and thought-provoking art, often mislabelled as “surrealist,” defied simple categorization.

The ninth of thirteen children, young Louis was sent to a sanatorium in Ottawa for treatment of spinal tuberculosis at age six. He remained there for four and a half years. This long-term confinement would become a major influence on his art. Hired as an illustrator by the CBC in the late 1950s, de Niverville quickly immersed himself in the burgeoning Toronto art scene. His work relied heavily on his dreams and daydreams, and explored aspects of the individual, culture and nature, and often featured surreal “inside-outside” spaces. At a time when Abstract Expressionism and its offshoots were dominant in the international art world, Louis’s early exhibitions in Toronto quickly seized the attention of respected art critics, and de Niverville was flagged as an artist to watch.

This reputation plus a number of private commissions, including large-scale murals for Pearson International Airport and Spadina subway station, both in Toronto, helped thrust de Niverville to the forefront of the Toronto scene in the 1960s and 1970s.

Edited by Thomas Miller—de Niverville’s partner of many decades and an artist in his own right—and international art dealer Philip Ottenbrite, Louis de Niverville: Pentimenti includes texts from renowned art critics and curators Tobi Bruce, Ihor Holubizky, and E.C. Woodley, which trace de Niverville’s rise in the Toronto scene, and which also provide critical art historical context to the depth and breadth of his unique practice. Heather Bell’s biographical piece on de Niverville’s childhood illuminates a practice seemingly born of childhood trauma and whimsy. Featuring more than 140 art reproductions and archival images, this is an in-depth examination of an artist who, in his unique portrayals of the individual, encouraged the exploration of the universal.