Phil Janzé

Heffel Auction House Biography and Notes

This lot comes from the esteemed collection of Lia Grundle, and was gifted to her directly from the artist. Lia was an important figure at the center of the Northwest Coast First Nations cultural revival of the late 1960s and 1970s. With her partner Len, Lia opened Tempo Canadian Crafts on Robson Street in Vancouver, a gallery dedicated to selling the art of Northwest Coast Indigenous artists. This business developed into Executive Marketing Services, in which Lia offered her services as a marketing agent to artists with whom she developed personal relationships, helping launch the careers of such names as Norman Tait, Roy Hanuse, Roy Henry Vickers, Larry Rosso, Freda Diesing, Gerry Marks and Phil Janzé, among many others. Lia was also centrally involved in the inception of the Northwest Coast Indian Artists Guild, with the first meeting of all the major artists involved taking place in her home. In 1977, the Guild produced their first print portfolio of a series that featured artists such as Robert Davidson and Joe David. The portfolio was shown at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and it established a visible market for Indigenous artists’ work, and created an enduring legacy which still resonates today.