Louis de Niverville
Canadian, 1933 - 2019
Person TypeIndividual
Canadian, 1917 - 2005
BiographyLOUIS DE NIVERVILLE When Louis de Niverville died on February 11, 2019, Canada lost a great artist. Not a member of a school of artists, he was truly unique. His life and work were all about transformation. As a child, he spent five years hospitalized with spinal TB, the last year encased in a plaster body cast. Somehow through extraordinary determination, the sick little boy transformed into an artist filled with ambition to create great art. He worked in many mediums including drawing, works on paper, prints, book illustration painting and collage. The art works varied in size from small drawings to huge murals, such as the 280 foot long mural in the atrium of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. His subjects ranged from the deeply personal worlds of family and dreams, to landscapes, gardens, architecture and cities, animals and birds, the circus and still life. In hundreds of art works the dream becomes real, everyday reality becomes the stuff of dreams, and the personal is transformed into the monumental. Louis truly saw the world with a mind illuminated by a sense of wonder. Self taught, Louis had scores of solo and group exhibitions throughout Canada and the United States. He received four senior Canada Council grants which helped him broaden his education and vision. Louis had two museum retrospective exhibitions. The largest was a 20 year retrospective in 1978-1979 which toured 14 Canadian museums and galleries. The second exhibition in 1997 featured painted collages. Both originated at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa. In 2007 there was a third retrospective at Ingram Gallery, Toronto, to celebrate his 50th anniversary as an artist. He created several large mural commissions including one for the TTC Spadina Station and also Pearson International Airport. The Maple Tree, 16 x 22 feet, was recently installed in The Maple, an apartment building in Halifax, named after the mural. His 62 year career began in 1957, when David Mackay at CBC, Toronto, saw his drawings and immediately hired Louis as a graphic designer. His work quickly became popular. During his lifetime, his art was collected by numerous private and corporate collectors, as well as public museums including the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Musée des Beaux Arts, the Musée d'art Contemporain in Montreal, Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, and the Joseph H. Hirschhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. Louis was truly a gentleman, possessed of wit and charm, and a great sense of humour. He enjoyed entertaining family and friends with delicious food and wine. He doted on his garden, roses especially, loved long walks and took many trips to Europe. Paris was his favourite city. When traveling, he always visited museums and art galleries. During the last 37 years he shared all these interests with Tom Miller, his soulmate and fellow artist. Louis was born in Andover, England, in 1933 to Canadian parents. His mother, Éméla Noël, and father, Albert de Niverville, provided a stable and nurturing home for the 13 children in the family. Louis is survived by siblings, Pierre, Albert, Francine, Andrée and Michel, as well as many, many nieces, nephews and their children. Louis has bequeathed to the future art works which are sometimes humorous, often challenging, haunting and ravishingly beautiful. His work is splendid in conception and execution. Because we have his art his spirit will always be with us and in giving of himself so completely in his work, Louis has more than fulfilled his purpose in life. After suffering for 6 months with lung and brain cancer, Louis died peacefully, at his home in Oakville, Ontario. He will be dearly missed by all who knew him and cherish his memory and his art.