Click image to return William Kurelek
Canadian O.S.A., R.C.A. [1927-1977]

AND ARCTIC NATURE SINGS; 1975

Mixed media on board
24 x 24 ins.

Sold @ $ 36,000
Click image to return William Kurelek
Canadian O.S.A., R.C.A. [1927-1977]

LIKE DROWNED RATS; 1972

Mixed media on board
5 1/2 x 11 ins.

Sold @ $ 8,525
Click image to return William Kurelek
Canadian O.S.A., R.C.A. [1927-1977]

KOPNTO; 1977

Mixed media on paper
21 x 14 ins.

Sold @ $ 2,300
click here to return
Many people believe no one has been able to paint what the prairies look like better than William Kurelek. Others think he was best able to capture the Canadian landscape with his brush. But few can argue that William Kurelek knew how to paint the world around him.

William discovered his artistic ability very early. When he was growing up on the prairies in the 1930s, William attended a one-room schoolhouse. Outside one day, he and another boy got into an argument about who was a better student. Finally, William declared that he could draw a better train, and he did. He realized that his ability to draw earned him attention and respect from his fellow students.

William was the oldest of seven children, born into a family that had immigrated from Ukraine. His paintings feature many Ukrainian themes, and he created a series of paintings on the difficult life for new immigrants.

Best known for his landscapes, Kurelek studied the geography around him while growing up on the family farm. He was very skilled at showing the sky on a clear sunny day, at twilight, or in the middle of a storm. He also painted night scenes, including one of children catching fireflies, and another of a family trying to finish haying as the lightning from a coming storm lights up the sky.

His last book was titled, To My Father's Village, and describes one of the last trips William took to the place where his father grew up, in 1977 when Ukraine was still part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. He went, he said, to discover if he was "more Ukrainian than Canadian." There, he painted the farms of his father's childhood, the village, and all of its inhabitants, both people and things. After a short month's stay, he returned home very ill, but with six completed paintings and many more sketches. William Kurelek died November 3, 1977 at age 50.