Artist William Kurelek
Title Woman Chopping Wood
Media watercolour on paper board
Dated
ca. 1961
Size 7.25 x 12.25 in. / 18.4 x 31.1 cm.
Frame Size 17.75 x 22.5 x 2 in.
Notes
signed with initials lower right; bears title and date on gallery labels verso; framed with archival mat and special glass
Reference
In 1959, William Kurelek joined Isaacs Gallery in Toronto as a framer and in the following year had his first one man show at the gallery [Isaacs became Kurelek’s agent for life based on a handshake]. In 1961, the women’s committee of the Art Gallery of Ontario invited Alfred Barr of the Museum of Modern Art in New York to visit and select a painting for the MOMA collection. Barr arrived and astonished them by choosing a painting by Kurelek: ‘Hailstorm in Alberta’. - kurelek.ca)
Provenance
The Isaacs / Innuit Gallery, Toronto and Peter Ohler Fine Arts Ltd., labels verso; from the Estate of Dr. Joan Snyder, a prominent Calgary philanthropist; proceeds from this work will help fulfill Joan's wishes to support the University of Calgary. To read more about Dr. Joan Snyder, visit the University of Calgary's Memoriam
Biographical Information
William Kurelek ~ [1927-1977] Canadian OSA, RCA
see Someone With Me: the Autobiography of William Kurelek, by W.Kurelek; Kurelek's Canada, by W.Kurelek, Pagurian Press, 1978; William Kurelek: A Retrospective, by A.Isaacs, E.A.G., 1979; The Last Days and Drawings of William Kurelek, by W.Kurelek, Tundra Books, 1988; A Memoir of William Kurelek, by B.Dedora, Aya Press, 1989; William Kurelek The Messanger, by M.J.Hughes, AGGV, 2011; illustrator and author of several books including A Prairie Boy's Summer, A Prairie Boy's Winter, A Northern Nativity, They Sought a New World, plus others; N.G.C. Vol.2, G-K, ed.C.Hill, pg.390; MacDonald Vol.3 pg.693; Westbridge, Vol.2, pg.101; listed on Artists in Canada, a Union List of Artists' Files, by National Gallery of Canada Library et al, Canadian Heritage Information Network [CHIN] website