Approximately two years before his death, when he was at the height of his popularity and success, the artist William Kurelek (1927-1977) sat down for an interview with the Winnipeg author, historian, and educator Michael Ewanchuk (1908-2004). The result of their meeting was a ninety-minute recording that is housed at the University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections. During the interview, Kurelek discusses his childhood in Alberta and Manitoba, his early ambitions and struggles, his accomplishments as an artist in Toronto, religious views, and artistic outlook. Throughout the recording, you will hear a regular scraping noise. This is the sound of Kurelek painting on one of his masonite supports.
This site contains both the entire unedited Kurelek-Ewanchuk interview, as well as a selection of shorter tracks drawn from the original.
Special thanks to the University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections for making this interview available.
A digital version of this interview is also available here.
For information about the Michael Ewanchuk fonds please visit the University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections.
Kurelek relays the ordeal of his early years in Manitoba, at home on the farm and at school.
[ Download ]
Kurelek discusses his first exposure to art education, as well as an early artistic rivalry.
[ Download ]
Kurelek describes the farming efforts of his father, Dmytro Kurelek, during the 1930s.
[ Download ]
Kurelek recalls one particular incident that illustrates the dire circumstances his family faced during the Great Depression.
[ Download ]
On this track, Kurelek describes his father's uncompromising expectations regarding farm work, and the artist's own ineptitude with that work.
[ Download ]
Kurelek talks about the outdoor world, particularly of southern Manitoba, that so fascinated him during his youth.
[ Download ]
Kurelek discusses how the crippling shyness he had developed at elementary school followed him to Winnipeg, as well as the positive influence of a Ukrainian Orthodox priest.
[ Download ]
Kurelek addresses specifically the expectations his father had as to the outcome of his university education, and the effect his studies had on his beliefs.
[ Download ]
Kurelek discusses his voyage to Europe in 1952, and his first impressions of the English people.
[ Download ]
Kurelek discusses two jobs he had while in London, England, during which time he was also a patient at two psychiatric hospitals.
[ Download ]
As a psychiatric patient, Kurelek had access to studio facilities. He describes his developing artistic practice, as well as the continuing struggles he had with his family, even from across the Atlantic Ocean.
[ Download ]
Margaret Smith was an occupational therapist at Maudsley, one of the two psychiatric hospitals where Kurelek was a patient. She played a foundational part in Kurelek's conversion to Roman Catholicism, and the two maintained a regular correspondence until the end of his life.
[ Download ]
Toronto's The Isaacs Gallery played a pivotal role in the lives and careers of Canadian artists in the 1960s and 1970s. Kurelek recounts his first meeting with gallerist Avrom Isaacs.
[ Download ]
Prairie Boys Winter (1973) Lumberjack (1974), and A Northern Nativity (1977) are some of Kurelek's best-known books. Kurelek describes how the idea of publishing books took off.
[ Download ]
Kurelek makes a distinction between two kinds of painting in his practice.
[ Download ]
Kurelek succinctly summarizes what is most important to him in life.
[ Download ]
Audio