To My Father’s Village, 1977

Private Collection, Ottawa

William Kurelek, “To My Father's Village: The Last Days and Drawings of William Kurelek”, Toronto, 1988, unpaginated, reproduced William Kurelek and Margaret S. Engelhart, “They Sought a New World: The story of European immigration to North America”, Montreal, 1985, pages 31 and 43 Michael Ewanchuk, “William Kurelek: The Suffering Genius”, Steinbach, Manitoba, 1996, pages 94-95

Kurelek avidly painted the immigrant story of Europeans in Canada, especially the immigrant experience on the prairies, but he also desired to visit his father's village in the Ukraine. Kurelek's relationship with his father, Dmytro, was a complicated and sometimes conflicted one. Kurelek recalled: “When an immigrant's son was lucky enough to graduate from university, he entered a respectable profession like medicine or law or teaching. I opted for art studies and that was unforgivable. Eighteen years would pass before my father made his peace with me.” Kurelek also recognized that while his father had been hard on him growing up, he set a good example with his determination and tireless work ethic. While not in the profession his father expected, Kurelek adopted his father's work ethic and busied himself as both a framer and artist through all hours of the day and night. Throughout his life, Dmytro displayed a “strong attachment for his native village, Borivtsi, and his Ukrainian traditions.” By 1977, Kurelek had begun to view these aspects of his father's character as favourable, likely playing a role in William's final visit to his father's village during that year. During his travels, the painter performed an antic, “an obeisance, by falling face down into a furrow and explaining the incident as trying 'to get to his roots'.” “To My Father's Village” is one of the drawings to emerge from this important personal journey.