William Kurelek

de Tobi Bruce, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria Staff, Winnipeg Art Gallery Staff, Art Gallery of Hamilton Staff

"Throughout a career that spanned from mid-1950s until his death, William Kurelek (1927-1977) and his art have meant many different things to many people. Widely-known as a painter of innocence and childhood memories whose scenes hearken back to a simpler and timeless past, Kurelek was also a chronicler of the experiences of various cultural groups in Canada, devoting entire series to Ukrainian, Jewish, Polish, Irish, French Canadian, and Inuit peoples. Then there is Kurelek the anguished prophet of a modern apocalypse, his art an indictment of the secular age and a testament to unwavering faith. Few modern artists are so readily accessible, compellingly complex, and so worthy of critical reappraisal. This stunning monograph accompanies the first large-scale survey of William Kurelek in thirty years." -- Publisher's description.