Notes on Kurelek from the AGA archives

Canada House Cultural Center
Preface to Catalog for the Show WK:The English Years
Show 5 July-21 Sept 1990

Kurelek came to England in 1952 to find a cure for his chronic depression and during the eight years, he remained in this country he produced a remakrable body of work whilst undergoing therapy at the Mausley Hospital and later at the Betherene Holspital, where an artist has been appointed to work, with the patients. Kurelek proved to be no ordinary patient , his genius as an artist contributed substatinally to the growing realsation that art had an impt role to play in the field of therapy ...
he imaged that he was being forced intoa coffin
....

Professor Carstairs
Edward Adamson, Netheren Hospital
Maudsley. Admonson Collection'

Globe and Mail, Thursday, Oct 2, 86
William French
WK regarded these paintings, which he could churn out at teh rate of three a day, as pot boilers, his real mission as an artsit was to prsteyize on behalf of teh Catholic Church and to warn of impending nuclrar holoucast. He may be the only resident of the beaches to get a premit from City Hall to build a bomb shelter.


Letter from former director Terry Fenton to Mrs AE Sheilds
(the work) is not represtive of Miss Grants taste, and that ti depicts a scene that it is not suioted to a memorial picute. ths feeling was brought to my attention on one other occasion, and while I apreciate your concern, Im not certain that anything can be done...obtain a represtational picture by an Alberta artist...

Note on the Back of a Painting in the AGA collection, as typed/written by WK: 27
AND THEY WERE TAKEN UNAWARES; WHEN THE FLOOD CAME AND DROWNED THEM ALL;SO IT WILL EB AT THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN (TITLE)

The previosu picture. I discovered to my deight, led neatly into this one. Although the barn in the previous work is neighbour Peleshaty's and this one is our own, they could be interchangeable.

emph and puncutation WK's, Matt. 24:3, i think, but not a direct match

Back of Lest We Repent we perfer not to think abotu death adn the afterlife:
This is a scene I recall from early boyhood, when I first began school. I knew this boy before he died of TB, for my brother adn I sometiems played with him. I have shifted teh season slightly drom late fall to early winter, to better convet the ipression of theo nce warm body ging into the cold earth. The mother backe away from the mouth of the grave with a moan, as if crying, "No,no, no. It cat be true." During our years of farmign in that Manitoba distrcit, there were several deaths in that family and yert the family, which was rather moraly lose, turned over no new leaf. this is the coniditon of our society geerally to-day, which leeaves it to the funeral palour to disguise death as quickly and as quietly as possible, so as not to distrub anyones state of mind or body"

Back of Christian (Charity/Chasitiy) (as reported from a letter from Sir GEroge Williams, now concordia)
This is often confused today with prutinaism or Victorian prudery. What I am trying to say here is that sex is a wonderful physical expression between man and wife. Even veiwed from a human angle, viriginity too easily given up results in loss of resepct. The courtnig Christians represtend by the yong man and woman picknicking in the grass olvoe each other adn express this with modest caresses adn kisses. But all the while, realizing their weakness before sexual pssion, each keeps his other hand in Chris;ts hand for strenght. The wall represtens the division between single and married lifwe, and the b;uebirds, the happiness of a newly weded couple at lest in each other embrace. Teh house with the children palying in front rperesents the fuirts of Christian marriage.

This is the painting referred to in Dr McLeods letter to a Twetny Year Old girl...(no idea what this sentence means)

the provence report marks ti as chasitity, the letter here calls it charity...

spelling errors all mine


Winnipeg Free Press
Helen Norrie
1/21/84
Among Important Canadian artists of recent times, WK, was the only one to believe his ability to make art was literally a gift from God and Msut be tied to Gods Service

Saturday Night
Sept 1986
Mark Albey

In Kureleks case the tyranny stopepd shortof outright brutality, Dmytro KLurelek rarely his lack of mechincal prowess and ciricised his failure to help around the farm. Dmytro and his wife, Mary, worked logn hours toprosper and they were unable to spend much tiem alone, with William. A familar immigrant story--except that William Kurelek could never see hsi parents disapptiontley adn may bever have been able to forgive them for hsi solitary, insecure childhood.

Contarary to his myth of hapiness, in the wake of conversion , one of these attemtps took place in 1964, soon afte3r the birth of his first shcild...)

Prarie Boy winter, painted in a week.

The unnerving thing about the children in his paintings is that few of them look young. their fqaces ae either aged or ageless. In thsui they resemble a brilliant despeate painting...The Maze

when he tried to build two bomb sheleters, worked in an airless basement bunker, and paitned hundreds of doomsday scenes, are jsut as disquiting, as his earleir portraits of dispair...

Alberta Report, May 2, No byline
4 years
autobiography which he wrote in 1973 for Dr James Mass to use for his pyschology students. WK finsihed this version shortly before his death in 1977,
(long qoute im not transcribing)

Globe and Mail, Letter to the Editor, 1984, From his biographer Morley
The collectiosn curator, British art theraist Edward Adamson has stated that Mr Kurelek was in Neterene for 4.5 years, adn that he was proably the msot twisted charachter he had ever seen...The hosptial records, mmade availble to me as MR Kurelek's biographer, indiacte that he was at Netherene for only 15 months )nov 1953, to Jan 1955). He ahd been in and out of a London hospital for 17 months previously adn been rtransferred to Netherene. It is difficult to quarrel with a personal memory but in fairness I must insist that Mr Kurelek was never irrational or pyschotic. He was during the mid fifities, severely depressed adn introvered, until shock therapy adn more importantly new foudn religous faith reesatblished hsi ability to fucntion soically...)


Globe adn Mail
Jan 6 1987
Kolankiwsky

The paintings have a narrow appeal, and dont nessc. reflect the body of the Kurelek work...It would be worth an awful lot of money, theoritically, but tis very dificult to sell a colelction like that. A religous instituition would have to buy it...
Av Isaacs (which makes me nervous about getting resources in york.)