William Kurelek
(1927 - 1977) RCA
Previously Sold Works
WILLIAM KURELEK
Map of Metropolitan Toronto
colour lithograph
signed and numbered 13/850 lower right
19 x 25 ins ( 48.3 x 63.5 cms )
Auction Estimate: $700.00 - $900.00
Price Realized $1,380.00
Sale date: May 28th 2015
WILLIAM KURELEK
Map of Canada
colour lithograph
signed and numbered 310/554 in the margin
25 x 25 ins ( 63.5 x 63.5 cms )
Auction Estimate: $1,000.00 - $1,500.00
Price Realized $1,440.00
Sale date: September 24th 2015
WILLIAM KURELEK
Abandoned Pioneer Chicken Coop
ink drawing
signed with initials and dated 1972 lower right (beneath the matting); titled on the backing card (beneath the matting); a letter from the artist is attached to the reverse of the artwork. Also included in this lot are two publications- “Kurelek’s Canada”, McGraw-Hill Ryerson (1975), and “A Prairie Boy’s Winter”, Tundra Books of Canada (1973)
13 x 21 ins ( 33 x 53.3 cms ) ( sight )
Auction Estimate: $1,500.00 - $2,000.00
Price Realized $1,380.00
Sale date: March 8th 2017
WILLIAM KURELEK
Map of Canada
colour lithograph
signed and numbered 217/554 in the lower margin; unframed
25 x 25.5 ins ( 63.5 x 64.8 cms ) ( sheet )
Auction Estimate: $800.00 - $1,200.00
Price Realized $1,380.00
Sale date: September 20th 2017
WILLIAM KURELEK
Skiing
colour lithograph
signed with monogram and dated 1977 within the plate; signed by Jean Kurelek and numbered 138/225 in the lower margin
12 x 9.5 ins ( 30.5 x 24.1 cms ) ( subject )
Auction Estimate: $400.00 - $600.00
Price Realized $1,416.00
Sale date: September 12th 2018
WILLIAM KURELEK
The Hound of Heaven
lithograph
signed, titled and numbered 41/100 in the lower margin
18 x 13.25 ins ( 45.7 x 33.7 cms ) ( subject )
Auction Estimate: $800.00 - $1,200.00
Price Realized $1,416.00
Sale date: November 28th 2018
WILLIAM KURELEK
Box Stove Top and Home Mill
ink drawing
titled lower right, inscribed indistinctly lower left
16.25 x 13.75 ins ( 41.3 x 34.9 cms ) ( sight )
Auction Estimate: $1,200.00 - $1,500.00
Price Realized $1,416.00
Sale date: February 20th 2019
WILLIAM KURELEK
Snowfall Ending on Quebec-Ontario Border
colour lithograph
signed, titled and numbered in the lower margin; unframed
22 x 28 ins ( 55.9 x 71.1 cms )
Auction Estimate: $1,500.00 - $2,500.00
Price Realized $1,416.00
Sale date: October 22nd 2019
WILLIAM KURELEK
Untitled, Prairie Landscape
pencil on paper
6.5 x 12.75 in ( 16.5 x 32.4 cm ) ( sight )
Auction Estimate: $1,500.00 - $2,000.00
Price Realized $1,200.00
Sale date: April 23rd 2024
WILLIAM KURELEK
Map of Toronto
lithograph
20.5 x 25 ins ( 52.1 x 63.5 cms )
Auction Estimate: $1,000.00 - $1,500.00
Price Realized $1,265.00
Sale date: June 18th 2013
WILLIAM KURELEK
The Slam
colour lithograph
inscribed “W. Kurelek” and initialed by Jean Kurelek in the lower right margin; numbered 10/225 in the lower left margin
12 x 9.75 ins ( 30.5 x 24.8 cms ) ( subject )
Auction Estimate: $500.00 - $700.00
Price Realized $1,150.00
Sale date: September 20th 2017
WILLIAM KURELEK
Trampoline Game
colour lithograph
signed and numbered 209/300 in the lower margin; unframed
18.75 x 16 ins ( 47.6 x 40.6 cms ) ( sheet )
Auction Estimate: $300.00 - $500.00
Price Realized $1,150.00
Sale date: September 20th 2017
WILLIAM KURELEK
The Barn Dance
colour lithograph
signed and numbered 238/300 in the lower margin
12 x 7.5 ins ( 30.5 x 19.1 cms ) ( subject )
Auction Estimate: $400.00 - $600.00
Price Realized $1,121.00
Sale date: September 12th 2018
WILLIAM KURELEK
Excitement Over First Heavy Snow
colour photolithograph
signed and numbered 143/300 in the lower margin; signed, titled and numbered on the reverse of the framing
12 x 7.25 ins ( 30.5 x 18.4 cms ) ( subject )
Auction Estimate: $900.00 - $1,200.00
Price Realized $1,121.00
Sale date: October 17th 2018
Consignments
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William Kurelek Biography
(1927 - 1977) RCA
Born on a farm near Willingdon, Alberta in 1927, William Kurelek created paintings that explored the reality of farm life during the Depression, with a focus on Ukrainian experiences in Canada. Kurelek’s mother’s family settled in Canada during one of the first waves of Ukrainian immigration in 1899 before the painter’s father arrived in Alberta from Western Ukraine during the second major wave to the province in 1923. In 1934, Kurelek’s family moved to Manitoba, near Winnipeg, due to falling grain prices and a fire that destroyed their home. Upon moving to Manitoba, Kurelek began attending school at the Victoria Public School.
Influenced by the apprehension surrounding the Depression, World War I, and the instability of farming, Kurelek focused on his studies. However, his father did not approve. While Kurelek’s father valued physical labor on the farm, Kurelek concentrated on school and drawing, which caused tension in his household. As a child, Kurelek covered his room in drawings from literature, dreams, and hallucinations. At school, Kurelek’s classmates were enthralled by his stories and drawings.
In 1943, Kurelek and his brother attended Isaac Newton High School in Winnipeg. While in Winnipeg, he frequented Ukrainian cultural classes offered by St. Mary the Protectress. In 1946, Kurelek enrolled in the University of Manitoba studying Latin, English, and history. While in university, Kurelek’s mental health spiraled, which he later self-identified as depersonalization.
After university, in 1948, Kurelek’s family relocated to a farm near Hamilton, Ontario. The next fall, in 1949, Kurelek began studying at the Ontario College of Art working towards a career in commercial advertising. While in school he was uninterested in the competitiveness and emphasis on earning high grades. So, he decided to study with David Alfaro Siqueiros in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. During his hitchhike to Mexico, Kurelek experienced his first mystical experience while sleeping in the Arizona desert. In this vision, a robed figure asked him to look after his sheep. Upon his arrival to Mexico, Kurelek learned that Siqueiros had departed, and the program was under new direction by Sterling Dickinson. Dickinson’s program was more informal and allowed Kurelek to become aware of social issues and develop his belief system.
Kurelek returned to Canada in 1951 and traveled to England in 1952 where he was admitted into a psychiatric treatment center at London’s Maudsley Hospital. The doctors noted the severity of his illness as well as his artistic talent. After his discharge, Kurelek traveled throughout Europe to view works by Northern Renaissance painters, such as Jan van Eyck and Hieronymus Bosh. In 1953, Kurelek was readmitted into Maudsley, then transferred to Netherne Hospital in Surrey, which had a cutting-edge therapy program. He continued to paint during this time. In early 1955, Kurelek was discharged and returned to London where he worked at an art framing studio, apprenticing with Frederick Pollock.
“Stephen Franklin in ’Weekend Magazine’ described his years in England as follows, ‘In seven years Kurelek found both happiness and sadness in London. His painstaking fool-the-eye paintings of pound notes and other objects found their way into three Royal Academy summer shows, but he was increasingly bothered by eye trouble for which there was no physical cause. He plumbed the depth of emotional despair, contemplated suicide, and wound up in hospital for more than a year. It was here that he began his conversion – from boyhood membership in the Orthodox Church and subsequent atheism – to Catholicism which has deeply affected his life since.’
It was there that he drew many self-portraits and scenes of farm life from his youth. He also developed his unique style of outlining the drawing with a ballpoint pen, using coloured pencils for texture and adding details in pen. Careful examination of his drawings reveals images full of realism with minute details of things like cots, clothes and even insects. Under the pen of William Kurelek, prairie farm scenes and landscapes came to life.”
Kurelek permanently returned to Canada in 1959. Later that year he met Avrom Isaacs, of Isaacs Gallery, who invited him to work in his gallery’s frame shop and hosted his first solo exhibition in 1960. In 1962, Kurelek married Jean Andrews and they relocated to the Beaches area in Toronto. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, he began painting in a “fire and brimstone” style and constructed a fallout shelter in his basement, which eventually became his studio. He visited Ukraine in 1970 and 1977 and during this period he took a multicultural approach to his art. After his second trip to Ukraine he was admitted to St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and soon passed away from cancer.
Literature Sources:
Andrew Kear, “William Kurelek: Life and Work”, Art Canada Institute, Toronto, 2017 (https://aci-iac.ca/art-books/william-kurelek)