Throughout a career that spanned from mid-1950s until his death, William Kurelek (1927-1977) and his art have meant many different things to many people. Widely-known as a painter of innocence and childhood memories whose scenes hearken back to a simpler and timeless past, Kurelek was also a chronicler of the experiences of various cultural groups in Canada, devoting entire series to Ukrainian, Jewish, Polish, Irish, French Canadian, and Inuit peoples. Then there is Kurelek the anguished prophet of a modern apocalypse, his art an indictment of the secular age and a testament to unwavering faith. Born in Alberta and raised in Manitoba, this highly prolific, disciplined and driven Toronto-based painter made more than 2,000 paintings in just a quarter century. Few Canadian artists are so readily accessible, compellingly complex, and so worthy of critical reappraisal. Organized into six thematic sections, this profusely illustrated monograph accompanies the first large-scale survey of William Kurelek in thirty years. Essays highlight Kurelek’s formative years when the young artist underwent psychiatric treatment and converted to Roman Catholicism. From here they explore his overtly religious sermons, his warnings of an imminent apocalypse, the poetics of landscape, and his qualified reflections of community and belonging. In essence, the publication mirrors Kurelek’s own psychic and creative journey through a reconciliation of his formative experiences and beliefs: from isolation, through religion, to a place of hope and acceptance.

Written by Tobi Bruce, Mary Jo Hughes and Andrew Kear with contributions from Brian Dedora and Avrom Isaacs

Hardcover

247 pages

ISBN-13 : 978-0888853646

 24.13 x 3.18 x 29.21 cm

October 2011