PROVENANCE
Galerie Agnès Lefort, Montreal
Private Collection, Montreal
Canadian Post-War & Contemporary Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, November 27, 2014, lot 14
Private Collection, United States

In this self-portrait, the artist sits at the kitchen table after lunch, reading the newspaper, while his father rests on the bench beside him. The view out of the window behind William Kurelek is of the poplar bush and the woodpile. The painting vividly conveys Kurelek’s anxiety about global events. His father, relaxed and napping on the bench with his eyes closed, contrasts with his son’s evident distress. Yet this unease is balanced by the serene July scene outside—the sunlit grass and the family’s peaceful life in Canada. This complex vignette captures the tension between the innocence of childhood and the harsh realities of the world, offering a profound and reflective self-portrait.

This work is in the original frame made by Kurelek. Included on the verso of this work is a typewritten note by the artist:

And you will hear tell of wars, and rumours of wars; see to it that you are not disturbed in mind; such things must happen, but the end will not come yet. Nation will rise in arms against nation, kingdom against kingdom and there will be plagues and famines and earthquakes in this region or that. But all this is only the beginning of travail.

This view is of the kitchen table after lunch, looking out of the south window toward the poplar bush and woodpile. I used to build pirate ships in that woodpile, but decided for the sake of seriousness not to hoist the Jolly Roger in this illustration. My father used often to take a quick cat nap after lunch on the bench behind the table. It was at this table that I used to read the newspaper accounts of the war back in 1939–42. So it seemed just the thing to illustrate this particular text.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars