Norman Laliberté (1925–2021) was a prolific American-born Canadian artist and designer who, with influences of Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso, spent his life bridging the gap between whimsical folk art and sophisticated modernism.

“His unique form of abstract expressionism serves as a potent anti-depressant,” “animals, flowers and often sensual figures install viewers with uplifting feelings of joie de vivre,” his son, Kristian Laliberté, wrote in the catalogue for a 2012 exhibition at Harbour Gallery in Mississauga, Canada.

This 1997 painting belongs to a period when he was increasingly translated into independent painted compositions of a more intimate, studio-based scale as opposed to the larger installations scale projects Laliberté had been doing.

By the 1990s Laliberté had long established his signature language: bold, saturated colour, flattened, emblematic forms, rhythmic patterning, symbolic, often spiritual or humanist imagery. Rolling Hearts Gathers No Love fits squarely into a phase, when his paintings were densely structured and reflective. Works like this operate as self-contained visual statements, combining decorative richness with allegorical intent. The composition’s segmented structure—bands of imagery above and below a central field—recalls the layout of his textile banners and triptych formats. Repeating hearts, figures, and stylized natural forms create a sense of procession. 

Born in Massachusetts to French-Canadian parents, Laliberté was raised in Montreal and received his first formal training at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. He later earned degrees from the Institute of Design in Chicago and the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Laliberté spent the first year of his life in Worcester, but grew up speaking French in Montreal. Just after turning 18 years old while living in Montreal he was drafted by the U.S. Army for service in World War II. His good fortune was that by the time he completed basic training at Fort Knox, the war ended (“I didn’t have to kill anybody, and nobody got to kill me,” he told Wicked Local in 2013). He did serve for a year and a half in postwar Germany.

He taught at Kansas City Art Institute, Boston College, Notre Dame and Rhode Island School of Design and published dozens of how-to books—about woodcuts and stencils and ink drawing and masks and, of course, banners.

Laliberté became a central figure in Canada’s visual culture during the 1960s. At Montreal’s Expo 67: Laliberté served as the Artistic Director where he was instrumental in shaping the visual identity of this landmark event.

His Montreal landmarks include work he created for the Hôtel Intercontinental, the Château Champlain, and the David Culver Atrium at Maison Alcan. In Toronto, we believe that Laliberté created banners for temporary installation St. Michael’s Cathedral, St. Basil’s / University of St. Michael’s College and the Newman Centre (University of Toronto).

Among the numerous other important projects, they include the “Vatican Project”, for the Vatican Pavillion at the 1964 to 1965 New York World’s Fair when Laliberté recruited Rhode Island School of Design students to help him assemble his 88 banner designs for the interior of the pavillion. Also he completed massive aluminum panels for Logan International Airport in Boston, tapestries for the lobby of 31-storey New York office building. He went on to design banners for the headquarters of the New York State Bar Association in Albany in 1971, stained glass windows on the theme of the Bill of Rights for the New York State Supreme Court building in Albany, 25 “whimsical siłk banners” (according to The Boston Globe) for the lobby of a new Children’s Hospital building.

Laliberté continued to work until his death in Nahant, Massachusetts in 2021 at the age of 95. His art is represented in major collections worldwide, including the Smithsonian Institution, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.