Ed. Inge Lindemann, “William Mac (William McElcheran): The Businessman”, Toronto, 1991, pages 26-28 and 31
Kinsman Robinson Galleries, “William McElcheran: Humanism in Bronze” [exhibition catalogue], Toronto, 2010, pages 2-6
Living and working in a post-war consumer culture, William McElcheran was acutely aware of his role as consumer in the grand network of the booming capitalist structure of society during the 1960s and 1970s. Through his sculptural work of these businessmen, there
is a satirical comment on the role of business within contemporary society. However, McElcheran expertly maintains the human qualities, sympathetic of the role of these men as players within the grander narrative of life. Like the mythical Achilles, Ares and Apollo, McElcheran’s iteration of the contemporary hero takes the form of the ‘Everyman’ ideal. McElcheran explained, “I’m always trying to maintain the tension between a kind of classical ideal and a satirical statement.” The ordinariness of the forms and physiques integrate into the post-war lexicon of visual aesthetics and archetypes, just as the muscular physiology of Greek gods in culture’s understanding of ‘hero’.
