Known for her psychological portraits of women, Janet Werner works from found images culled from both fashion magazines and art historical references. Her most recent works place female figures within the landscape, drawing inspiration from Romantic, Rococo, and early Modernist art history. Although her work eschews naturalism, she has grown ever-more ambivalent about her subject-cum-performers, finding satisfaction with interruptions and psychological “splits.” The works possess a seductive openness, a vulnerability manifested through the figures’ gazes that allows viewers to project onto them. We relate to them through their disruptions shrinking, covering, flipping, contorting.
Janet Werner (b. 1959, Winnipeg, Manitoba) received her MFA from Yale University, after which she returned to Canada, where she taught at the University of Saskatchewan from 1987 to 1999 and Concordia University, Montréal, from 1999 to 2019. In 2019 Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal mounted a monographic exhibition Janet Werner. Previous to that from 2013-2015 a solo survey exhibition of her work Another Perfect Day, organized by the Kenderline Art Gallery, University of Saskatchewan, toured to five locations in Canada, including the Esker Foundation, Calgary; the McIntosh Gallery, Ontario; Galerie de l’UQAM, Montreal; and the Doris McCarthy Gallery, Toronto.
Recent gallery exhibitions include Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA; Almine Rech, Paris, France; Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY; Gallery 12.26, Dallas, TX; Bradley Ertaskiran, Montréal, QC; and Arsenal Contemporary, New York, NY. Her works are in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; Musée du Québec; Musée d’art contemporain, Montreal; The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), Toronto; Canadian Embassy in Berlin; University of Lethbridge, Alberta; Winnipeg Art Gallery, McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco, CA; and numerous private and corporate collections. Her forthcoming solo exhibition, Landscape With Legs, will take place at Anat Ebgi in New York in May 2026. Werner lives and works in Montréal, Québec.
The recent publication Sticky Pictures, co-published by Griffin Art Projects and Figure 1 in collaboration with the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, surveys the last seven years of Werner’s painting practice.
Combining precision with ambiguity, Werner creates images that shy away from easy interpretation, showcasing how we consider identity, memory & desire. — Jo Rosenthal
Janet Werner Is Distorting Fashion’s Beauty Ideals Through Painting
Werner reconstructs familiar ideals of beauty into something far more complex, distorted and, at times, unsettling, exposing a charged tension between glamor and the grotesque. — Sylvia Shoshan
THE ARTIST’S WAY | Janet Werner and Samantha Thomas
The fundamentals of art – shadows, structures and shapes – are the primary paradigm in which Samantha Thomas views her work. Utilising everyday studio items like raw canvas, thread and acrylic paint, the Texas-born, California-based artist parlays mundane materials into something that defies convention. Lines are a common thread in Thomas’ pieces, but the flickering forms appearing in “Incendiaria” are much more personal than the vibe the inorganic holes and ombré background initially give off. Referencing the act of map-making (cartography), Thomas revisited the process of stitching burnt linen into a canvas painted with acrylic paint after watching her Malibu house be ravished by the 2018 Woolsey Fire. —Ava Gilchrist
This show was selected as part of Los Angeles Oomph—a roundup of the best contemporary art exhibitions and events held by galleries, museums, and institutions in L.A. during February 2023 on the occasion of Frieze Los Angeles art fair. Curated by Mousse.
Creating composite characters that speak to the complexity of women’s roles today, Werner successfully subverts the narrative by smartly revealing the psychological challenges of acting the parts that the media ultimately wants women to play. — Paul Laster
Every inch of the pieces on view here suggested that, and despite her gimlet eye for mass-market manipulations of femininity, she is more fascinated with what can come of the act of manipulating paint—more intent on producing pleasure than interrogating it, though interrogation can evidently be part of the pleasure. —Barry Schwabsky
Montreal artist reframes line between art and life in new show
“I’m actually a very formal, abstract painter. As much as there’s narrative and an interest in the figure (in my paintings), there’s also an equally strong interest in abstraction and aspects of formal painting.” —Janet Werner
“It’s about the abstract qualities—the shapes, the colours, the textures...all that stuff that fashion designers play with. Marc Jacobs talks about storytelling, and there’s this interesting crossover between fashion and art and how they feed each other.” —Janet Werner
Between the glossies and the grotesque Janet Werner paints a world
Though she is capable of dashing off masterful paintings of classic beauties, Werner’s greatest strength is the way her inimitably warped perspective divulges so much more than any perfect lens could perceive. While her paintings reveal a tumult of ugly feelings lurking beneath their muses’ comely surfaces, they also ingeniously deflect ocular penetration. —Ara Osterweil
"Fashion magazines became a source for my imaginary characters because they were adaptable to the idea of inventing characters. I liked that they weren’t real people - they aren’t specific - and I like this generic aspect of them." —Janet Werner
The artists's mother once shrewdly asked, "How does one go about putting one's best face forward, if one can never figure out which face that is?" Dwelling in the mysteries of this quandary, Werner is nonetheless capable of dazzling the viewer. Luckily for us, she asks us to face much more—and we do. —Ara Osterweil
Pictures of You: A conversation with Janet Werner on the shifting grounds of feminism, fashion, and portraiture
"I often have to destroy a portrait when it gets too photographic. I get angry and start undoing the portrait, removing or altering features, messing with the paint, in the process of which something else comes through. The closet expressionist in me comes out and I’m generally much more satisfied with the result." —Janet Werner
Janet Werner and the Portrait Reinvented at Musee d’art contemporain de Montreal
Werner turns the tables on her viewers – and ups the ante of her painting practice – by offering them a garden variety of distortions that are at once playful, surreal -- and which can and do result in a dangerous vertigo. — James D. Campbell
Janet Werner presents a partial snapshot of the last decade of her work
"It’s still important to me that I have something I can hold in my hand. There’s a materiality to the photograph, to the magazine, to the experience of looking through magazines. I look through thousands of images before I find something that stimulates an idea." —Janet Werner
Rather than making pictures of girls, Werner is now making paintings about looking at pictures of girls. We begin to consider not only how her own work is constructed, but also how fashion operates, how girls and women make themselves up and how pretty is manufactured and spread throughout our culture —Erica Mendritzki
Although Werner proves that she can transform any objet trouvé into a captivating image, a chasm between what is and what might be nonetheless persists. In one fell swoop, Werner extends the long, limber arm of desire and bridges the gap. —Ara Osterweil
These works are not only an interesting rumination on the artistic process, but seem possessed of a certain willful instability, disrupting the nature of representation. —James D. Campbell
Werner’s constant subject is one that’s nearly missing. She frequently leaves an erased line, a taken-back figure, a specter of a different or a disappeared girl, the one she didn’t turn up. Her unresolved women – the ones rescinded – leave a trace that rings the ones that stayed. —Sky Goodden
Her [Janet Werner's] subjects are ready-made in the market: they come from the world of fashion and are statistically honed for mass-appeal. It's their obdurate blankness that's confrontational. —Marcus Miller
Someone Something Nothing: Some Thoughts on Janet Werner’s Recent Paintings
First and foremost, Werner's works are undeniably paintings; paintings about painting as a practice, painting as a way of viewing and engaging with the world, painting as a dialogue and critique. —John Kissick
To wit, Werner can be violent. In this show, she attempts her first nude, Sheila, 2011, and its slightly jaundiced body crumples around its nipples, which peer outward like those in Magritte’s Le Viol, 1934. If aesthetics will scrutinize bodies, implies Werner—in tones both political and classicist, for she is strongly sensitized to the canon of portraiture—these bodies must, in turn, stare out. They must devour. —David Balzer
As we enjoy the sumptuous mass of writhing paint adorning and defining each subject, we also become what she wears: empty beauty swimming in the ultimate act of vanity, painting. Who's sorry now? —Cameron Skene
Montreal-based painter Janet Werner's exhibition of recent work displayed a tree combination of artistic forces: the creative muscle of a mature artist exploring, in depth, subject matter she is well known for, yet at the same time maintaining a high level of risk, presenting work energized by invention and full of surprises. —Clayton Bailey
In her well-known portrait paintings, Janet Werner seems fascinated with what George Eliot, in Daniel Deronda calls pettishness: a peevish brattiness often characteristic of pretty, spoiled girls and (in a possible etymological connection) their pets—cats and toy dogs. —David Balzer
These works are eloquent in their silences. Expression and palette set their mood swings in motion, and a measure of abjection, a sad truth of our lived experience, can be felt just underneath many of their reduced and beautifully painted surfaces. —James Campbell
Mute ability: Janet Werner changes the face of portraiture
"I always was trying to make beautiful paintings and I thought they were beautiful when they were good. Because of the way they were painted and the colour, and even if the image was difficult I was still trying to make it beautiful. Now I'm taking beautiful things and trying to make them interestingly difficult. Maybe the two are hopelessly intertwined." —Janet Werner
Werner's deftness with light and shadow, the way her brush caresses and pokes around the mouth, the patina of warm tones on the ear—take your pick—something here should leave you aroused as both human animal and connoisseur, unless you're blind, prudish or both.
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Eau Claire." This artwork was created in 2025 and measures 24" x 20" [HxW] (60.96 x 50.8 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Janet-Werner_JW1178_1765059246.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Grotto." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 39" x 44" [HxW] (99.06 x 111.76 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Janet-Werner_JW1171_1765059399.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Swamp Witch." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 60" x 81" [HxW] (152.4 x 205.74 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Janet-Werner_JW1176_1763857950.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Le jour d'avant." This artwork was created in 2025 and measures 48" x 60" [HxW] (121.92 x 152.4 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Janet-Werner_JW1169_1758753426.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Sentinels." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 69" x 52" [HxW] (175.26 x 132.08 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Janet-Werner_JW1163_1763857930.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Rider." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 63" x 58" [HxW] (160.02 x 147.32 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Janet-Werner_JW1134_1683065700.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Untitled (kilter)." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 36" x 24" [HxW] (91.44 x 60.96 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Janet-Werner_JW1136_1683065693.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Sacred Heart." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 33" x 26" [HxW] (83.82 x 66.04 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Janet-Werner_JW1137_1681413066.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Beverly Laurel." This artwork was created in 2022 and measures 59" x 96" x 1 ⁵⁄₈" [HxWxD] (149.86 x 243.84 x 4.12 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Janet-Werner_JW1125_1681413074.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Alice." This artwork was created in 2022 and measures 76" x 60" x 1 ⁵⁄₈" [HxWxD] (193.04 x 152.4 x 4.12 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Janet-Werner_JW1116_1681413080.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Haddon." This artwork was created in 2022 and measures 45" x 55" x 1 ¹⁄₄" [HxWxD] (114.3 x 139.69 x 3.17 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Janet-Werner_JW1132_1681413068.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Virgo." This artwork was created in 2022 and measures 24" x 20" x 1 ⁵⁄₈" [HxWxD] (60.96 x 50.8 x 4.12 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Janet-Werner_JW1122_1681413097.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Untitled (Anne)." This artwork was created in 2008 and measures 20" x 16" [HxW] (50.8 x 40.64 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Janet-Werner_JW1061_1772405235.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Shy Girl." This artwork was created in 2003 and measures 54" x 43" [HxW] (137.16 x 109.22 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Janet-Werner_JW1059_1772405239.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Pink sky." This artwork was created in 2007 and measures 66" x 55" [HxW] (167.64 x 139.7 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Janet-Werner_JW1066_1772405261.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Janet Werner titled "Girl with Daisies." This artwork was created in 2007-2018 and measures 38" x 32" [HxW] (96.52 x 81.28 cm). Its medium is Oil on canvas.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Janet-Werner_JW1032_1772405319.jpg)
