Lot 206
WILLIAM KURELEK, R.C.A.
Provenance:
Acquired from the artist.
Private Collection, Montreal.
Literature:
Joan Murray, Kurelek’s Vision of
Canada, Oshawa, 1982, 13.
Margaret S. Engelhart and William Kurelek, They Sought a New World, Plattsburgh, 1985, n.p.
Note:
Painted in 1966.
Murray observes that Kurelek “favoured the panorama - a distant high horizon, a limitless expanse.” In Cultural Exchange in Canada, the artist carefully positions his figures within the vast composition, with each grouping illustrating a narrative. Kurelek had an affinity for depicting the immigrant experience in Canada and he noted: “As a historical painter...I had to record the crises, the calamities, the hunger, thirst, sweat, toil of the people settling into an untamed country. This I feel is nothing to be ashamed of. On the contrary, it glorifies the courage, the service, the toughness...”