HEFFEL FINE ART AUCTION HOUSE
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WILLIAM KURELEK ARCA OC OSA
1927 ~ 1977
Two Works a) Blessing of the Easter Paska mixed media on board, initialed and dated 1968 11 3/4 x 14 1/2 in, 29.8 x 36.8 cm
b) Ukrainian Christmas Eve mixed media on board, initialed and dated 1968 11 3/4 x 14 1/2 in, 29.8 x 36.8 cm P ROVENANCE : Acquired directly from the Artist by the present Private Collector, Toronto William Kurelek’s depictions of traditional Ukrainian religious ceremonies were exact and detailed, as was frequently the case in his work. In the Christmas scene, 12 dishes are laid out on the table in the manner of the Last Supper of Christ on a traditional Ukrainian embroidered tablecloth. The Kalach, or Christmas bread, sits in the middle of the table with a candle in its centre, having just been lit. The candle will be left burning all night to welcome any homeless people to join the celebration. The family would have fasted as a reminder of the hardships that Mary endured on her journey to Bethlehem, and the eager faces of the hungry children tell us they have been waiting with anticipation for this moment. The child at the frosty window has been watching for the first star of the evening, as the meal can only begin after it appears. Kurelek chose to paint the moment just after the child has spotted and pointed out the star and the candle has been lit, a moment full of simple childhood joy. A sheaf of grain stands in the corner, and the religious icon is revealed, framed by its curtains pulled open for the celebration. Kurelek was raised in a hard~working Ukrainian Orthodox farming family. As a young adult, he became an atheist. This, combined with his interest in art, estranged him from his family who were industrious farmers with little time for such dalliances as art. Kurelek’s adult conversion to Catholicism
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followed repeated bouts of depression and struggles with his mental health. From 1952 until 1957, during which time he was a patient in a psychiatric hospital, he explored the Catholic faith, taking correspondence classes about the Mass and eventually converting fully. He would then find success in his art, exploring religious themes with considered attention to his own life’s story. These depictions of Ukrainian religious rituals painted in 1968 show us that Kurelek had come full circle. He had less attachment to a specific faith, and was more concerned with the presence of faith itself. The happy times of his childhood were associated with religious holidays, when work was set aside and families came together. By 1968, as a happily married father, he had the perspective that comes with age and had exorcised the ghosts of his childhood. In the Easter scene, we have an interesting combination of religious observance and social commentary. Orthodox Ukrainian Easter Matins begins at midnight and continues through the morning, when the traditional foods for Easter ~ Paska (a sweet, iced bread), eggs, ham, roast pork, lamb, kielbasa sausage, cheese and fresh horseradish root ~ all painted with detail here by Kurelek, are blessed by the priest with willow branches. The kneeling families will then rise and return home to break their fast. Here, the figures in the foreground are in darkness, symbolic of the time Christ’s body lay in the sepulchre, while the figures in the distance, and the farm scene beyond, are in daylight. Kurelek’s work is loaded with symbolism, both religious and personal. The baskets are a symbol of the hope for happiness and prosperity in the year to come. Kurelek’s inclusion of a car, the grain elevators in the distance and a train, presumably loading grain, are a comment on the prosperity that has clearly already arrived. The banner with the face of Christ, held in a processional, is being carried out of the picture. The question Kurelek asks is this: has happiness arrived as well, or simply prosperity? These works were commissioned by the present owner on the advice of his sister, who was a collector and promoter of Kurelek’s work in the late 1950s.
E STIMATE : $40,000 ~ 60,000