Lumberjacks Returning to Camp

Acquired directly from the Artist Private Collection By descent to a Private Collection Joyner Waddington's, auction, Toronto, 25-26 November 2008, lot 68 Private Collection, Toronto

William Kurelek, "Lumberjack", Montreal, 1974, unpaginated William Kurelek and Joan Murray, "Kurelek’s Vision of Canada", Edmonton, 1983, page 78 Patricia Morley, "Kurelek: A Biography", Toronto, 1986, pages 52-54 Andrew Kear, "William Kurelek: Life & Work" [online publication], Art Canada Institute, Toronto, 2017, page 4

Before his career as an artist, William Kurelek worked as a lumberjack north of Lake Superior in 1947, then from 1951 to 1952 in a French-Canadian camp called La Tuque in Quebec and finally in Fraserdale, Ontario. The subject of the Canadian lumberjack was depicted extensively throughout Kurelek’s career with the most notable example being "Lumberjack's Breakfast", 1973 (Art Gallery of Greater Victoria). Kurelek further describes his experiences in a picture book titled "Lumberjack" that was published in 1974. "Lumberjacks Returning to Camp" is no different. A line of lumberjacks trail away from their job site with axes and swede saws in hand, leaving behind remnant stumps as they gladly welcome the comfort of their smoke billowing bunkhouses. Kurelek’s decision to work as a lumberjack occurred at a pivotal moment in his life. It was the first time he gained independence and freedom from his arduous home life and the job would also later fund his art studies in Europe. The lifestyle of lumberjacks was attractive to Kurelek for what it represented to him as a gateway to independence, and specifically how it connected people from various nationalities and backgrounds. There was also structure and community. As Kurelek describes, “at all the camps there was the same yarn-telling, backslapping, humor and feast-sized meals, the same admiration for physical prowess, skill and productivity.” Kurelek was struck by how rapidly the practice of lumberjacking had changed over time, both in living conditions and technologies, remarking, “as a few students arrived armed with new gadgets called ‘power chainsaws.’” As this was something not often written about or captured visually, Kurelek felt a responsibility to do so. Lumberjacking was a decision largely unsupported by his father, whose anger Kurelek wrote, “lasted until the very morning I was to leave.” Andrew Kear explains in "William Kurelek: Life & Work" that his “mental anguish and a fraught relationship with his parents, especially his father, defined Kurelek’s journey into adulthood.” Perhaps Kurelek, whose artwork was often representational and full of meanings, depicted a bear with its cubs looking towards the fleeting lumberjacks as a symbol of his own family watching his departure. The barrenness and solemness of the landscape, stripped of its trees, is being left behind for greener and more lush forests ahead. Regardless of the meaning, William Kurelek felt “very lucky to have [had] experienced traditional lumbercamp living before it disappeared forever.” Kurelek kept this lifestyle alive through his images and through the legacy of his artistic career.