Lot 17
WILLIAM KURELEK, R.C.A.
Lot 17 Details
WILLIAM KURELEK, R.C.A.
PRAIRIE CALL TO COLD COMPANY (NATIVITY IN CANADA SERIES)
mixed media on board
signed with initials and dated ‘75; titled and numbered #14 on the reverse
24 ins x 23 3/4 ins; 60 cms x 59.4 cms; 24 ins x 23 3/4 ins; 60 cms x 59.4 cms
Estimate $35,000-$45,000
Provenance:
The Isaacs Gallery Ltd., Toronto
Equinox Gallery, Vancouver
Private Collection, Ontario
Literature:
William Kurelek, A Northern Nativity, Christmas dreams of a prairie boy, Montreal, 1978 (Second hardcover edition), Fig.13 (as Grain Elevator’s Blind Corner), illustrated in colour.
Note:
The paintings of the Nativity in Canada are based on dreams Kurelek had when he was twelve years old growing up on the prairies during the 1930’s, combined with imagery of places he saw on the farm.
The grain elevator in this work is like the one he hauled grain into with his father. Kurelek writes “There was a wagon still tilted after emptying its load into the elevator that would carry the grain to the top through the open door...he sees Mary and the Child huddling in an alcove of the cold, unheated building...Now that the grain wagon is empty the children beyond the door will be hitching their sleighs to it for free rides. They seem to be calling the Child to come out and play.”