William (W.K.) Kurelek
Under the pen of William Kurelek, prairie farm scenes and landscapes came to life. By the time of his death in 1977, Kurelek had produced over 2,000 paintings. Kurelek was the son of Ukrainian immigrant farmers. He grew up during the Great Depression on a grain farm in Alberta, and then a dairy farm in Manitoba. While helping out on the farm, he enjoyed watching the sky, studying thunderstorms rolling in across the prairies or the changing patterns of the clouds. His hard-working father thought that his son was lazy, and was not pleased when he decided to pursue his studies in art. His father's rejection was to haunt him all of his life. Kurelek briefly studied art at school, but preferred to teach himself through books. While traveling in England, he was hospitalized for over a year and enrolled in the hospital's art therapy program. It was there that he drew many self-portraits and scenes of farm life from his youth. He also developed his unique style of outlining the drawing with a ballpoint pen, using coloured pencils for texture and adding details in pen. If you examine his drawings, you will notice that they are full of realism with minute details of things like cots, clothes and even insects. Many of Kurelek's painting were produced to accompany books for children. For these he won several awards, including the New York Times's Best Illustrated Children's Book Award for A Prairie Boy's Winter and Lumberjack, and the Canadian Association of Children's Librarians Illustrators Award for A Prairie Boy's Summer.

Available Artwork
Newfie Joke (A boy peeping out from behind a snowball)
- Mixed Media on Board
- 6.00 x 8.75 in
- 1974
- CAD $110000.00
Memories of a Manitoba Boyhood
- Mixed Media on Board
- 30.00 x 40.00 in
- 1960
- CAD $115000.00
Free Ukrainian Mountaineers
- Mixed Media on Board
- 40.50 x 42.00 in
- 1968
- Price available on request
Prairie Winter Mishap
- Mixed Media on Board
- 12.75 x 18.50 in
- 1970
- Price available on request
Playing Ball
- Mixed Media on Board
- 4.50 x 12.00 in
- Price available on request
The School's Woodpile
- Mixed Media on Board
- 23.00 x 23.00 in
- 1972
- Price available on request
Still Life with Treasury Notes
- Mixed Media
- 6.50 x 10.50 in
- 1955
- Price available on request
Exceptional Sales
Who Has Seen the Wind, page 267
- Mixed Media
- 14.50 x 16.75 in
- 1974
- Sold
Hot Day in Kensington Market
- Mixed Media on Board
- 24.00 x 30.00 in
- 1972
- Sold
Barn Dance
- Mixed Media
- 23.00 x 14.50 in
- 1974
- Sold
Breakaway
- Mixed Media
- 12.00 x 30.00 in
- 1976
- Sold
Rink Making in Manitoba
- Mixed Media on Board
- 14.00 x 14.00 in
- 1974
- Sold
Soft Snow Fun
- Mixed Media
- 9.25 x 14.25 in
- 1973
- Sold
Balsam Avenue After Heavy Snowfall
- Mixed Media
- 24.00 x 24.00 in
- 1971
- Sold
Children Playing in the Snowbank
- Mixed Media on Board
- 18.50 x 20.00 in
- 1971
- Sold
Light Trading Day, Toronto Stock Exchange
- Mixed Media
- 24.00 x 28.00 in
- 1971
- Sold
A Bumper Harvest
- Mixed Media
- 48.00 x 36.00 in
- 1974
- Sold
Manitoba Mountain
- Mixed Media on Board
- 48.00 x 48.00 in
- 1971
- Sold
Prairie Town
- Mixed Media on Board
- 36.50 x 49.00 in
- 1966
- Sold
The Excitement of First Heavy Snow
- Oil on Canvas
- 38.00 x 23.00 in
- 1974
- Sold
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