William Kurelek

William Kurelek was born on March 3, 1927, near Whitford Alberta to Dmytro and Mary Kurelek. He was the oldest of seven children, born into this Ukrainian immigrant family. During the Great Depression, of the 1930's, his family lost their farm, and was forced to move to Stonewall, Manitoba in 1934. From a very young age, William showed a great interest in drawing and sketching. Despite the great talent he showed at a very young age, William was ridiculed by his father, who questioned the value of such interests. His father greatly disapproved of William's interest in art and often told him he should pursue a more manly profession. As the oldest of seven children, Kurelek was expected to help run the farm, and his lack of mechanical aptitude attracted harsh criticisms from his father, who did not wish his son to be an artist, but rather a more manly profession. Kurelek attended a public school called Victoria School and did well academically. Though he did well academically, he was bullied and tortured, and these difficult experiences scarred him deeply and made him withdraw into a shell. In this withdrawal, he found solace in art. In 1942 William began High school at Isaac Newton high school in Winnipeg Manitoba, and graduated in 1946. Kurelek spent the summer of 1947 working on a bush lumber camp near Neys, Ontario. In 1949, Kurelek received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba and entered the Ontario College of art. The Kurelek family moved to Vinemount, near Hamilton, Ontario. Kurelek withdrew after his first term at the Ontario College of Art. In 1950, Kurelek travelled to Mexico and studied briefly at the San Miguel Art School/Instituto Allende in Mexico (?). In 1952, he travelled to London, England. While travelling in England, Kurelek was hospitalized for over a year and enrolled in the hospital's art therapy programme. It was there that he drew many self-portraits, and scenes of farm life from his youth. (tvorchict: He also developed his unique style of outlining the drawing with a ball point pen, using coloured pencils for texture and adding details in pen. His paintings are full of realism and minute details for things like cots, clothes and even insects.) In June 1952 until November 1953, was both a resident and an outpatient of Maudley Psychiatric Hospital. While he was hospitalized, he found solace in the Roman Catholic Faith. Although it is difficult to understand why the clergy did not help him join the Ukrainian Catholic Church, Kurelek still believed that the Ukrainian religious customs should be preserved and re-invigorated. After his conversion to Roman Catholicism, in a period of only ten years, Kurelek painted more than a thousand works warning of the dangers of godlessness and materialism. The allegorical scenes for what he called his sermons, were oftens those of his own life, painted on barn boards he brought back from his childhood home is Saskatchewan. During this time, he made a trip to the continent and viewed the influential works of Brueghel and Bosch as well as obtaining a labourer's position with the London Transport Commission. In 1953 Kurelek entered Netherne, a mental asylum in Surrey UK, and crated art pieces such as Where Am I? Why Am I? and Lord That I May See. His artistic career began in England, where he made his first sale of the painting "Tramlines" and an exhibition of his paintings and oils was favourably received. In 1953, Kurelek created the self-analytical painting "The Maze". Parts of The Maze were used by Van Halen, on the cover of their 1981 album, Fair Warning. In 1955, Kurelek left Netherne, and in 1958, he visited Turkey, Israel, Greece and Italy. After his 1959 return to Canada, he began his illustration of the Passion of Christ Series. In 1959, Kurelek began working as a framer for the Isaacs Gallery in Toronto. There, he staged his first one-man show, entitled "Farm and Bush Life" which ran from March 26 to April 7, 1960. This exhibition was very successful and Kurelek began receiving more visibility and started to gain distinction as an artist. On October 8, 1962, Kurelek married Jean Andrews. Having twice visited the Holy Land, he depicted the Passion of Christ according to St. Matthew in a series of 160 paintings, which he considered his magnum opus. His most popular works, however, were paintings of life on the prairies. He created a series of intricate works on prairie life and a series of interesting works depicting various ethnic groups of Canada. During his visit to Winnipeg and trips to the country, he wanted to learn more about farm life, showing special interest, for instance, in a steam threshing system. As a result he painted murals of the Dauphin area, even the Dauphin train station. In 1963, Kurelek finished his 160-peice Passion of Christ Series. In 1966, Kurelek created his "Ukrainian Pioneer Woman in Canada" series, and "This Is The Nemesis" which is now displayed in the Art Gallery of Hamilton. In 1967, the National Film Board of Canada