The Cook Shack on a Grey Day

William Kurelek (1927 – 1977)
William Kurelek was one of Canada’s most commercially successful painters of the latter part of the twentieth century. Kurelek was firmly established as a painter in the late 1960s, though his eclectic body of work was at odds with the dominant artistic currents of his day.

Kurelek’s eclectic oeuvre reflects his childhood on the prairies, his Ukrainian heritage and his Roman Catholicism. Born on a farm near Whitford, Alberta, Kurelek’s lack of aptitude or interest for farming coupled with his desire to be an artist attracted harsh criticism from his father, which may have contributed to his depression and emotional suffering as a young man. He attributed his recovery to his conversion to Roman Catholicism. His work alternates between realism and symbolism, the latter influenced by Bosch and Brueghel. The Heffel auction house has described his work thusly: “The body of Kurelek’s work alternates between farm scenes of innocence and wonder, apocalyptic visions of the end of the world and biblical stories involving lessons of morality. Sometimes disturbing, sometimes naïve and joyous, his work is extremely personal and moving.”

In the year before he died, Kurelek was made a Member of the Order of Canada. His paintings continue to be held in many private collections.