William Kurelek
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William Kurelek, (March 3, 1927 – November 3, 1977) was a
Canadian art Canadian art refers to the visual (including painting, photography, and printmaking) as well as plastic arts (such as sculpture) originating from the geographical area of contemporary Canada. Art in Canada is marked by thousands of years of hab ...
ist and
writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
. His work was influenced by his childhood on
the prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...
, his Ukrainian-Canadian roots, his struggles with mental illness, and his conversion to Roman Catholicism.


Early life

William Kurelek was born near Whitford, Alberta in 1927, the oldest of seven children in a Ukrainian immigrant family: Bill, John, Winn, Nancy, Sandy, Paul, and Iris. His father, Dmytro Kurelek, was born in Boriwtsi, Bukovina. Mary Huculak, his mother, was born in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, and received her elementary education in a local rural school. Her family had come with the first wave of Ukrainian immigration to Canada and was also from Boriwtsi. Dmytro and Mary were cousins. Dmytro arrived to work on the Huculak farm early in 1923. The couple married in the summer of 1925, his mother not quite nineteen at the time. His family lost their grain farm during the Great Depression and moved to a six-hundred-acre former dairy farm near
Stonewall, Manitoba Stonewall is a town in the Canadian province of Manitoba with a population of 5,046 as of the 2021 census. The town is situated approximately north of Winnipeg on PTH 67. It is known for its limestone quarries. The local festival is the Quarry ...
, around 1933. A cousin let the family off from his wagon at the gate of their new farm in pitch darkness. The back of their farm bordered on the bog, today Oak Hammock Marsh. Some of his paintings in the books ''A prairie boy's summer'' and ''A prairie boy's winter'' depict Kurelek and other children in the setting of the bogland. Treelines along the horizon recorded by him in these paintings are still recognizable in the area. "Victoria School could be seen from our milkhouse a mile away." It was the one-room schoolhouse that Kurelek and his brother, John, attended. When about to enter high school, their father announced that they would do so in Winnipeg, where he purchased a house on Burrows Ave., seeing this as the economically wiser course than throwing money away on rent. Weekends, food was brought in by their parents from the farm to help offset the cost of living in the city. Eventually, their sister Winnie joined her brothers. They attended Isaac Newton High School a few blocks away. Kurelek was at the top of his class in German, and did well in all the other subjects. Just around the corner from the house was St. Mary the Protectoress Ukrainian Orthodox church where he attended Ukrainian school, and found a very positive father figure in Rev. P. Majewsky. Kurelek graduated from high school in 1946, and enrolled in the fall of that year in the Arts General Course at the
University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...
, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco. His innate appeal and love of murals may have originated in his boyhood, when in his absence his father ventured one day upstairs and into his son's room to discover, much to his horror, the walls covered in unseemly illustrations. Kurelek's friends at the OCA told him about a School of Fine Arts in San Miguel, Mexico, which might grant him a scholarship if he produced something worthwhile.Kurelek, William. Someone With Me, An Autobiography, McClelland and Stewart, 1980, page 115. Fired by the thought of studying with one of the great Mexican mural painters, he painted his first self-portrait. Though he studied at the
Ontario College of Art Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within d ...
in
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
and at the
Instituto Allende The Instituto Allende is a visual arts school in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The institute provides a range of courses, and offers a BA in Visual Arts and an MA in Fine arts in association with the Universidad de Guanajuato. Its courses and de ...
in
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, he was primarily
self-taught Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions (such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individu ...
from books. ''Zaporozhian Cossacks'', a gift to his father, is the last painting Kurelek did before leaving for Europe for the first time, and shows the influence of the Mexican muralists on his work.


England

By his mid-twenties he had moved to England. In 1952, suffering from
clinical depression Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Intro ...
and emotional problems, he admitted himself into the Maudsley Psychiatric Hospital in London. There he was treated for
schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...
. In hospital he painted, producing '' The Maze'', a dark depiction of his tortured youth. His experience in the hospital was documented in the '' LIFE Science Library'' book ''The Mind'', published in 1965. In this hospital, Kurelek met an occupational therapist who changed the course of his spiritual life. Margaret Smith brought him a book of poems, wrapped in a dust jacket that she had made of a Catholic newspaper. "I was a staunch atheist at the time…," Kurelek recalled, and upon discovering her faith, teased her about it. Later, he asked her if she was praying for him, and she answered, "Yes, I am." From here, they began to attend church services together. He took a correspondence course from the church, and met with Father Edward Holloway, a theologian trained at the English College in Rome, who helped him over some final stumbling blocks. In February 1957, Kurelek entered the Roman Catholic Church by a ceremony of
conditional baptism Mainline Christian theology (including Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Anglican, Lutheran and most other Protestants) has traditionally held that only one baptism is valid to confer the benefits of this sacr ...
. Margaret Smith, and his friend David John, a sculptor who did work for the church, were his godparents.Morley, Patricia. Kurelek, A Biography, Macmillan of Canada, 1986, page 129. He was transferred from the Maudsley to the
Netherne Hospital Netherne Hospital, formerly The Surrey County Asylum at Netherne or Netherne Asylum was a psychiatric hospital in Hooley, Surrey in the United Kingdom. History Design and Construction Netherne Asylum was founded on 18 October 1905 to alleviate ...
, where he stayed from November 1953 to January 1955, to work with
Edward Adamson Edward Adamson (31 May 1911 – 3 February 1996) was a British artist, "the father of Art Therapy in Britain", and the creator of the Adamson Collection. Early years: Sale, Tunbridge Wells, Fleet Street, WW2 (1911–1945) Edward Adamson was b ...
(1911–1996), a pioneer of art therapy. At Netherne he produced three masterpieces - ''Where Am I? Who Am I? Why Am I?'' (donated to the
American Visionary Arts Museum The American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) is an art museum located in Baltimore, Maryland's Federal Hill neighborhood at 800 Key Highway. The museum specializes in the preservation and display of outsider art (also known as "intuitive art," "raw ...
by Adamson at its inauguration in 1995), ''I Spit On Life'', and ''A Ball of Twine and Other Nonsense''. In 1984, when the
Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Bev ...
exhitied ''Selections from the Edward Adamson Collection'', Adamson donated to the Ontario Psychiatric Association a large pencil drawing by Kurelek of one of the interiors of Netherne Hospital, showing a group of patients at leisure.


Framer

By the end of 1956, Kurelek was working for F.A. Pollak Limited, an elegant framing shop near Buckingham Palace. He worked here for 25 months. Frederick Pollak, an
Austrian Jew The history of the Jews in Austria probably begins with the exodus of Jews from Judea under Roman occupation. Over the course of many centuries, the political status of the community rose and fell many times: during certain periods, the Jewis ...
, who had fled from
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in the thirties and settled in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in 1938 establishing his shop for the framing and restoration of antiques, had made frames for the
Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
. Framing was an art that dated back to the
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
, and a single frame could cost thousands of pounds and require months of work. Pollak's became another school for Kurelek, where he learned the closely guarded secrets of gilding, which eventually found their way into his techniques as a painter. His apprenticeship at Pollak's, building and restoring frames, would serve him in a practical way until a few years before his death. When he returned to Canada in 1959, the Isaacs Gallery in Toronto immediately recognized the skills in framing that he had acquired in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
. In later years,
Avrom Isaacs Avrom Isaacs, D.F.A. (March 19, 1926 – January 15, 2016) was a Canadian art dealer. Career Avrom Isaacovitch, known as Av Isaacs, was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and moved to Toronto with his family in 1941. Isaacs graduated with a bachelo ...
commented that Kurelek would take more time building a frame than actually painting its canvas. Isaacs became Kurelek's agent for life; it was a business arrangement that remained unwritten. ''Glimmering Tapers round the Day's Dead Sanctities'' from 1970 is part of his ''Nature, Poor Stepdame'' series, and indicates that he was still building frames for his own paintings though quite renowned as an artist by this time.


Canadian artist

Kurelek's first exhibition at the Isaac's Gallery was from March 26 to April 7, 1960. The show had 20 paintings. Among them, both his ''self-portraits'' (1950, and 1957); 3
Trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...
, paintings of a kind which had won him a place for three years in succession in the
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, s ...
; ''Remorse'' from his hospital period; the Brueghel-like ''Farm Children's Games in Western Canada'', a forerunner of his children's paintings to come; ''Saw-Sharpener'', a look at his days as a lumberjack; ''When I Have Come Back Home''; ''The Modern Tower of Babel''; ''Behold Man Without God'', this last reflecting the beginning of a change in attitude to prayer and the church. Though he was working on his ''The Passion of Christ According to St. Matthew'' series by this time, none of these religious paintings were included as they would be unsaleable. Canadian poet John Robert Colombo, for whom Kurelek had recently illustrated his first book of poetry, best describes the opening: "There were a lot of strange looking people, not the usual art crowd. Bill looked terribly out of place at his own opening. He had a reddish complexion and looked like a lumberjack; he looked as if he were in the wrong country, the wrong century, the wrong situation. It didn't look as if ''he'' had produced this work!" The Isaacs' popular opening nights drew city sophisticates, affecting the bohemian dress of their day. This time they contrasted sharply with Kurelek, his parents, and their Ukrainian friends. Nonetheless, it was the largest crowd the gallery had ever drawn, and by the following year the Isaac's Gallery had moved into a larger building. In 1961, the women's committee of the
Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Bev ...
invited the prestigious
Alfred Barr Alfred Hamilton Barr Jr. (January 28, 1902 – August 15, 1981) was an American art historian and the first director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. From that position, he was one of the most influential forces in the development of ...
from the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
to visit and select a Canadian painting for his museum's collection. At that time abstract expressionism was in vogue. Barr arrived and astonished them by choosing a painting by Kurelek: ''Hailstorm in Alberta''. When the ladies committee telephoned Kurelek to come to the AGO to meet with Barr, he did not even know that Av Isaacs had entered one of his paintings into the competition. Living economically at the time, Kurelek offered to take a streetcar, but they talked him into taking a cab which was sent for him. Kurelek first visited the Catholic Information Centre at Bathurst and Bloor streets in Toronto in November 1959. Its emphasis at the time was the instruction and encouragement of converts, which fit in with his recent conversion. He soon found himself attending twice a week, helping out on one of its committees. Here he met Jean Andrews: "She not only had a charming smile, she was a real beauty too." Jean was a nurse, Anglo-Canadian, and part of Our Lady of the Wayside Praesidium at the centre, "it was devoted to rehabilitating prostitutes and dope addicts - a rather brave kind of Christian charity work that I admired." In her mid-thirties, about the same age as him, she was interested in children and having a family of her own. Their courtship was encouraged by the centre and on October 8, 1962, the couple wed. He titled a painting of his wife which he did the year they were married: ''Mendelssohn in Canadian Winter'', as she enjoyed listening to Mendelssohn's violin concerto very much. In it, his wife was seated in a plain church-basement background; five years later he repainted the background to the current one portending a gloomy future, in keeping with his didactic work. The atmosphere that it most likely had originally was that of ''Green Sunday'' as this painting pre-dates his didactic period. Kurelek's marriage was swiftly fruitful, with three children born by 1966. They would go on to adopt a fourth child.


Didactic Art

In May 1963, Kurelek's "Experiments in
Didactic Art Didacticism is a philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature, art, and design. In art, design, architecture, and landscape, didacticism is an emerging conceptual approach that is driven by the urgent need to ...
" exhibition opened at the Isaac's gallery, with the new works: ''The Day the Bomb Fell on Hamilton'', ''Hell (The Worm That Dies Not)'', ''The Wage of Sin Is Death'', and ''Dinnertime on the Prairies''.Morley, Patricia. Kurelek, A Biography, Macmillan of Canada, 1986, page 183. About ''Dinnertime on the Prairies'', Paul Duval wrote, "I cannot recall any Canadian religious painting to equal it for sheer dramatic impact." John Robert Colombo wrote about this painting: "an almost perfect combination of the prairies and the religious image". Elizabeth Kilbourn wrote about the show: "If this is didactic art, I would willingly expose myself to more even at the risk of conversion." In 1964, on a trip back to Stonewall and the bog, Kurelek's diary records him still struggling with how to fuse his religious message with his nature paintings. Harry Malcolmson had the answer for him when he gave him a negative review in the next didactic show of 1966. Malcolmson wrote: "satire generally implies making a point by indirection. There is about as much indirection in Kurelek's sledge hammer attack as in the Ten Commandments…. This is not so much an art show as a fire and brimstone sermon exhorting us to right conduct." Kurelek took this criticism to heart and in the didactic shows following, made his paintings subtler and borrowed long poetic titles for them, i.e. from the poet
Francis Thompson Francis Joseph Thompson (16 December 1859 – 13 November 1907) was an English poet and Catholic mystic. At the behest of his father, a doctor, he entered medical school at the age of 18, but at 26 left home to pursue his talent as a writer a ...
's poem "'' The Hound of Heaven''" for his ''Nature, Poor Stepdame'' series. ''Thy Young Skyey Blossoms'' from this series illustrates the more poetic approach to his didactic paintings.


Ethnicity

Alongside his didactic paintings, Kurelek was also continuing with his more conventional ones, in the fall of 1964 twenty paintings to honour his father, and a couple of years later another to honour his mother, though in the latter he could not restrain sermonizing outright in write-ups for the paintings. His lengthy awkward sermons placed Christianity before the hardship of pioneer women. "Mercifully, the texts had very little circulation, and the paintings were praise indeed for the pioneer women who helped to build this country." Kurelek's awareness of his Ukrainian ethnicity began in 1964 with his first return to the prairies to paint since leaving in 1949. His painting ''Manitoba Party'' is at the beginning of this period (he paints himself as a child hiding under the table inside the tent). This growing ethnic awareness in himself was met by a growing social awareness in the Ukrainian community, and in 1965, Anna Balan, Olga Hamara, and Stella Olynyk from the Ukrainian Women's Association of Canada approached him for a series for the Canadian Centennial in 1967, intended to celebrate Ukrainian women and how they helped to shape Canadian pioneer life. The ladies wanted to upgrade their community from the folk arts, and invited Kurelek to help. He titled his series: "Ukrainian Woman Pioneer in Canada". His write-up this time simply thanked the ladies of UWAC for their help along the way with the project. Originally
Ukrainian Orthodox The history of Christianity in Ukraine dates back to the earliest centuries of the history of Christianity, to the Apostolic Age, with mission trips along the Black Sea and a legend of Saint Andrew even ascending the hills of Kyiv. The first C ...
, and briefly a professed atheist, Kurelek, converted to the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
in 1957, by 1959 had started on his St. Matthew's Passion series, 160 paintings on the
Passion of Christ In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ. Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...
. He completed it in 1970. All 160 paintings inaugurated the opening of the new St.Vladimir's Institute in Toronto, as its first art show on February 26, 1970. The Kolankiwskys, who attended the opening, showed up at suppertime on the Kureleks' doorstep. They were planning to open an Art Gallery in Niagara Falls and wanted to purchase the entire series. Having no hope of selling any of these paintings, now with an entire gallery to be devoted to them, Kurelek saw this as nothing less than a miracle. That same year the Kolankiwskys organized a three-week tour of Soviet Ukraine, of the art galleries and churches. Kurelek went along, and was allowed by the Soviet authorities to visit his father's village, see the house where his father was born, and spend four brief hours with his relatives.Morley, Patricia. Kurelek, A Biography, Macmillan of Canada, 1986, page 222.


Author

Kurelek met May Cutler in June 1971. They were introduced by Mira Godard during his exhibition of "The Last Days" series at the Marlborough Godard Gallery in
Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...
. Cutler wondered if he would do a children's book for her. That book became ''A prairie boy's winter'', his first book as a published author. Two years later the twenty original paintings for the book were exhibited at this same gallery. The ten made available for sale were gone in half an hour. People unable to buy one traveled to Toronto, where the other ten were sold just as quickly the following week at the Isaacs' Gallery. On the heels of this success, a series of other Kurelek books by Tundra quickly followed. Cutler wrote later to Robert Fulford that she was the first person ever to ask Kurelek to do a book: "Now everyone wants Kurelek to do books." He wrote and illustrated a series of
children's books A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younge ...
, several of which have become modern classics. In 1974 he illustrated a new edition of
W. O. Mitchell William Ormond Mitchell, (March 13, 1914 – February 25, 1998) was a Canadian writer and broadcaster. His "best-loved" novel is '' Who Has Seen the Wind'' (1947), which portrays life on the Canadian Prairies from the point of view of a smal ...
's '' Who Has Seen the Wind''. He won the
Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award The Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award was presented annually by the Canadian Library Association/Association canadienne des bibliothèques (CLA) to an outstanding illustrator of a new Canadian children's book. The book must be "suita ...
for ''A Prairie Boy's Winter'' in 1974 and ''A Prairie Boy's Summer'' in 1976. Kurelek's personal ethnic awareness translated into a growing recognition of others' ethnicity. In 1973 at a conference on ethnic studies in Toronto, Kurelek met Abe Arnold who became his collaborator on the book ''Jewish Life in Canada''. Helen Worthington of the Toronto Star called them Canada's odd couple. "One is a shy, sensitive, introverted and devout Ukrainian Catholic; the other is a brash, energetic, outgoing, and committed Jew." Kurelek's wife's
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
ancestry prompted him to work on an Irish series of paintings, and
Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
separatism, a French-Canadian in the hope of promoting peace. His bewilderment, that neither of these last two series found a publisher, overlooked that the success of the Jewish series was due to Abe Arnold's great efforts and promotion of it. Kurelek went on to do an
Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
series, travelling in Oct. 1975 to
Pangnirtung Pangnirtung (or Pang, also Pangniqtuuq, in syllabics: ᐸᖕᓂᖅᑑᖅ ) is an Inuit hamlet, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, located on Baffin Island. Pangnirtung is situated on a coastal plain at the coast of P ...
in the Northwest Territories at that time, today Nunavut. Kurelek also did a series of 20 paintings depicting the Nativity as if Christ had been born in various Canadian settings: an igloo, a trapper's cabin, a
boxcar A boxcar is the North American ( AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most ...
, a
motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionarie ...
. He maintained a cottage near Combermere,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, where he got his inspiration for a book of paintings entitled ''The Polish Canadians'', and was a friend of the nearby
Madonna House Apostolate The Madonna House Apostolate is a Catholic Christian community of lay men, women, and priests dedicated to loving and serving Jesus Christ in all aspects of everyday life. It was founded in 1947 by Catherine Doherty in Combermere, Ontario, and ha ...
. His visits to
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
in 1970 and again in 1977, were published posthumously in ''To My Father's Village''.


Travels

Kurelek hitchhiked from
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
to
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
in 1950 and the
Instituto Allende The Instituto Allende is a visual arts school in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The institute provides a range of courses, and offers a BA in Visual Arts and an MA in Fine arts in association with the Universidad de Guanajuato. Its courses and de ...
in San Miguel. In 1952, he arrived in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
at the
Maudsley Hospital The Maudsley Hospital is a British psychiatric hospital in south London. The Maudsley is the largest mental health training institution in the UK. It is part of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and works in partnership with the ...
. While here, he took a three-week trip to
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
to look for a school of art where he might study. He went to
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
, behind the Iron Curtain, and saw the eight large Brueghels on display at the Kunsthistorisches Museum. In
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
and the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, he saw
Van Eyck Van Eyck or Van Eijk () is a Dutch toponymic surname. ''Eijck'', ''Eyck'', ''Eyk'' and ''Eijk'' are all archaic spellings of modern Dutch ("oak") and the surname literally translates as "from/of oak". However, in most cases, the family name refers ...
's altarpiece, as well as paintings by Bosch and Brueghel. While in London, he spent time at the art galleries: the
Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
; the
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...
that carried
Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...
and Bosch's The Mocking of Christ. Following his conversion, he visited
Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Châ ...
in 1958, and took a trip to the Holy Land in 1959, which in itself was somewhat of an adventure. First taking the
Orient Express The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe and int ...
, again behind the Iron Curtain, through
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
and
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
, he had himself smuggled into the Holy Land on an American grain cargo boat from
İskenderun İskenderun ( ar, الإسكندرونة, el, Αλεξανδρέττα "Little Alexandria"), historically known as Alexandretta and Scanderoon, is a city in Hatay Province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Names The city was founded as Ale ...
to
Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
. Then, by plane he went to
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. Here he visited the sites of Calvary and Christ's tomb combined by that time into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; the Upper Room, scene of the Last Supper; the
Garden of Gethsemane Gethsemane () is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem where, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus underwent the agony in the garden and was arrested before his crucifixion. It is a place of great reson ...
; Lazarus's tomb in
Bethany Bethany ( grc-gre, Βηθανία,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā'') or what is locally known as Al-Eizariya or al-Azariya ( ar, العيزرية, " laceof Lazarus"), is a Palestinian town in the West B ...
on the other side of
Mount Olivet The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet ( he, הַר הַזֵּיתִים, Har ha-Zeitim; ar, جبل الزيتون, Jabal az-Zaytūn; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Old C ...
; and
Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
, with its
Church of the Nativity The Church of the Nativity, or Basilica of the Nativity,; ar, كَنِيسَةُ ٱلْمَهْد; el, Βασιλική της Γεννήσεως; hy, Սուրբ Ծննդեան տաճար; la, Basilica Nativitatis is a basilica located in B ...
; before trekking by foot over the strip of no man's land into
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, conscious all the time of traversing holy ground, the road the Holy Family had traveled. His experience of the Holy Land, which in his eyes had changed little from two thousand years earlier, is reflected in the faces, places, and landscapes depicted in his series ''The Passion of Christ According to St. Matthew''. He returned to London by way of
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
. In 1969, he took a trip around the world, stopping in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
to visit his sister Sandy, then to
Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
to visit a mission school in
Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal ...
, and finally to
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
to visit his foster-child. In 1970, he took his first trip of two to visit his father's village in
Soviet Ukraine The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
. In
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, he travelled to all the places that are found in his paintings.


Last years

The split in Kurelek between his creativity and religion continued to the end of his life. In 1975, while on a pilgrimage to Lourdes again, he completed 73 illustrations for Bohdan Melnyk's translation of
Ivan Franko Ivan Yakovych Franko (Ukrainian: Іван Якович Франко, pronounced ˈwɑn ˈjɑkowɪtʃ frɐnˈkɔ 27 August 1856 – 28 May 1916) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, ...
's ''Fox Mykyta''. Initially, he knew nothing about Franko, but when suggested that the Ukrainian classic should be part of mainstream culture, went ahead with the project. "Since greed, hypocrisy, opportunism are often self-defeating, Fox astutely plays upon these moral flaws. The drawings sparkle with energy, humor, and hard-won wisdom of both Franko and Kurelek." Having finished the illustrations, Kurelek read the book more closely and voiced the concern that Franko's fox was using clerical disguises for selfish ends. He held up the publication of the book and it was only published posthumously. In 1976, a similar drama unfolded with author Gloria Kupchenko Frolick and her novella ''The Chicken Man''. Kurelek completed 15 paintings to illustrate it, and then had second thoughts. "If she wished to use his work to illustrate her fiction, she would have to change the text, turning the abortion into a miscarriage performed by an unqualified midwife." Despite his knowing that it was based on a real story. The author changed the story to the illustrator's liking, and it was published. In January 1976, Kurelek painted the mural at the St. Thomas More College Chapel in
Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...
. It was a culmination of many influences, the Mexican muralists, Breughel, and his Christianity. Having trouble with heights, his assistant Geralyn Jansen climbed to the apex and painted God into the mural in the aniconic image of the sun. Kurelek was made a member of the
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...
. In 1976, he was made a Member of the
Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...
. He died of cancer in Toronto in 1977. His archives, and a substantial body of his work, including the Passion series mentioned above, are held at
Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...
Art Gallery and Archives Canada.


In Popular Culture

In 1981, the hard rock band
Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...
released their fourth album titled " Fair Warning", with a cover that features several closeup details of William Kurelek's painting "The Maze" from 1953.


Publications


Solo works

* ''O Toronto'' (1973). Toronto: New Press. * ''Someone With Me: An Autobiography'' (1973). Ithaca, New York: Centre for Improvement of Undergraduate Education, Cornell University. * ''Someone With Me: An Autobiography'' (1980). Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, 1980. . * ''A Prairie Boy's Winter'' (1973). . * ''Lumberjack'' (1974). ** German: ''Die Holzfäller.'' Transl. Ilse Stasmann. Jungbrunnen, Vienna 1982 * ''A Prairie Boy's Summer.'' (1975). . * ''The Passion of Christ'' (1975). Niagara Falls: Niagara Falls Art Gallery & Museum. * ''Kurelek's Canada'' (1975). Toronto: Pagurian Press Limited. * ''The Last of the Arctic'' (1976). Toronto: Pagurian Press Limited. * ''A Northern Nativity'' (1976). . * ''Fields'' (1976). Montreal: Tundra Books. * ''Someone With Me: An Autobiography'' (1980). (revised condensed reprint) Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. * ''The Ukrainian Pioneer'' (1980). Niagara Falls: Niagara Falls Art Gallery. Based on the 1971 mural of the same title. * ''The Polish Canadians'' (1981). Montreal: Tundra Books. * ''Someone with Me'' (reprint) (1988). Niagara Falls: Niagara Falls Art Gallery. * ''To My Father's Village'' (1988). Montreal: Tundra Books. .


In collaboration

* ''They Sought A New World'' (1985) Montreal: Tundra Books. Text by Margaret Engelhart, with snippets of the artist's commentary and paintings illustrating Engelhart's text. * With historian Abraham Arnold. ''Jewish Life In Canada'' (1976). Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers. * ''Kurelek Country'' (1999) Toronto: Key Porter Books. Preface by his dealer, Av Isaacs; biographical essay by historian Ramsay Cook. * With Joan Murray (1983). ''Kurelek's Vision of Canada''. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers. Exhibition catalogue.


Works illustrated by him

* Kupchenko-Frolick, G. (1989). ''The Chicken Man''. Stratford, Ontario: Williams-Wallace Publishers. *
Ivan Franko Ivan Yakovych Franko (Ukrainian: Іван Якович Франко, pronounced ˈwɑn ˈjɑkowɪtʃ frɐnˈkɔ 27 August 1856 – 28 May 1916) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, ...
. (1978). '' Fox Mykyta''. Montreal: Tundra Books. (72 illustrations.) * Mitchell, W.O. (1976). ''Who Has Seen the Wind''. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada. * De Marco, D. (1974). ''Abortion in Perspective''. Cincinnati: Hiltz & Hayes Publishing. (Section head illustrations.)


Exhibitions

* ''Kurelek: The Messenger''. Touring Winnipeg, Victoria, and Hamilton 2011–2012. * ''Kurelek from the Community: An autobiography through his art and writings'',
Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village ( uk, Село спадщини української культури, Selo spadshchyny ukrains’koi kul’tury) is an open-air museum that uses costumed historical interpreters to recreate pioneer set ...
, 2012 * ''Vanishing Point: A Rural Perspective''. Alberta Government House, 2010–2012. * In 2020, Kurelek was in a group show titled ''Next Year's Country'', linked with artists as seemingly distant as Louise Noguchi at
Remai Modern Remai Modern is a public art museum in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The art museum is situated along the west bank of the South Saskatchewan River, at the River Landing development in Saskatoon's Central Business District. The museum's build ...
, Saskatoon.


Film and video about him


''Artist's Studio''
a film by Halya Kuchmij. * '' William Kurelek's The Maze'' (1969 & 2011). Directed by Robert M. Young and
David Grubin David Grubin (born 1944) is an American documentary filmmaker. Career Grubin is best known for producing television documentaries for PBS, notably ''American Experience'' and ''Healing And The Mind with Bill Moyers''. His work has won two Alfr ...
, produced and reimagined by Nick Young and Zack Young. 65 minutes. MachinEyes. *
Kurelek
' (1967). Directed by William Pettigrew. 10 minutes, 7 seconds, color.
National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
. * ''Pacem in Terris'' (circa 1970). Directed by John Giffin, written by Murray Abraham. 14 minutes, 23 seconds, color. Film Arts. * ''The Ukrainian Pioneers'' (1975). Directed by John Giffin, written by Juliette Mannock. 13 minutes, 51 seconds, color. Film Arts.


See also

* *


References


Further reading

* Ewanchuk, Michael. ''William Kurelek: The Suffering Genius''. Steinbach, Manitoba: Perksen Printers and Michael Ewanchuk Publishing, 1996. * P. Morley. ''Kurelek''. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1986. * Friesen, I. ''Earth Hell & Heaven In the Art of William Kurelek''. Oakville, Ontario: Mosaic Press, 1997. *Kear, Andrew.
William Kurelek: Life & Work
'. Toronto: Art Canada Institute, 2017. * Orford, Emily-Jane Hills. "The Creative Spirit: Stories of 20th Century Artists". Ottawa: Baico Publishing, 2008. . * Pomedli, M. ''William Kurelek's Huronia Mission Paintings''. Lampeter, Dyfed, Wales: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1991. * Cutler, May. ''Breaking Free: The Story of William Kurelek''. Tundra Books, 2002. * Dedora, Brian. ''With WK in the Workshop: A Memoir of William Kurelek''. Aya Press / The Mercury Press, 1989.


External links


William Kurelek, Life & Work by Andrew Kear
* with interactive gallery
''Kurelek'' (English Version)
1967 film at National Film Board of Canada (nfb.ca)
Her Excellency Sharon Johnston shares her thoughts on "William Kurelek’s ''The Maze''"Brian Dedora (who worked with Kurelek at the Isaacs Gallery) shares his thoughts on "William Kurelek’s ''A Tale of a Dog''"
*
ttp://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/200/301/nlc-bnc/heroes_lore_yore_can_hero-ef/2001/index-e.html website archived 2001 * (under "Kurelek, William, 1927–" without "1977", previous page of browse report) * Archives of William Kurele
(William Kurelek fonds, R4640)
are held at Library and Archives Canada {{DEFAULTSORT:Kurelek, William 1927 births 1977 deaths 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters Artists from Manitoba Canadian children's writers Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Canadian Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy Former Ukrainian Orthodox Christians Members of the Order of Canada Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Instituto Allende alumni People from Lamont County People with schizophrenia Deaths from cancer in Ontario 20th-century Canadian male artists Canadian landscape painters