The Crowd, 1973

Private Collection, New York, acquired late 1970s

After graduating from the Ontario College of Art in 1948 at the top of his class, William McElcheran became the went on to become the chief designer for Bruce Brown and Brisley Architects. From 1955 to 1960 he planned and designed twenty-three churches and university buildings. He taught sculpture at the Ontario College of Art from 1960 to 1967. In the mid-1960s, he gradually withdrew from liturgical commissions and began to exhibit his secular work. With this shift to a more corporate career path, McElcheran began building a client base of corporate professionals—his inspiration for his businessmen series. Although McElcheran worked in a variety of media, he became best known for his sculptural depictions of businessmen. Dressed in suits and hats and carrying briefcases, McElcheran’s businessmen hurry through their daily routines, driven by society’s expectations. His portrayal is both satirical and empathetic, capturing their ambition to succeed, acquire and conform, even as they remain constrained by the very system they serve.

McElcheran began exploring themes of crowds, the "rat race" and corporate life in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This early example of the "rat race" motif of a bronze crowd of businessmen and businesswomen transforms the ordinary act of commuting into something theatrical: figures stride forward in unison with exaggerated determination, their physiques and nearly interchangeable business attire suggesting conformity in a world in which professional identity can overwhelm individuality. Their forward momentum conveys the relentless pace of working life, as though each person is rushing toward an appointment or competing to get somewhere first. McElcheran gently mocks the self-importance of the business world, but he does not ridicule his subjects; the businessman sculptures gently satirize corporate life while preserving their subjects’ humanity, recasting the modern hero as an urban "Everyman." The artist elevates a familiar figure of contemporary life into a subject worthy of bronze.

This sculpture is related to a smaller crowd scene exhibited in McElcheran's second solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Hamilton in 1987. It was completed in 1973, while McElcheran was artist-in-residence at the University of Toronto’s School of Architecture, from 1970 to 1974. Also in 1973, he established Daedalus Designs, a firm dedicated to integrating sculpture and architecture, and produced public sculpture in Canada, the United States and Europe.