A Prairie Parable: William Kurelek

William Kurelek’s artistic career began in earnest with his first solo exhibition at Toronto’s Isaacs Gallery in March 1960 and concluded with his death, aged 50, in 1977.

Like Pieter Bruegel in the 16th century, Kurelek made images adapted from Christian teachings. Like Cornelius Krieghoff in the 19th century, Kurelek made images derived from experience. Each made images more profound than mundane, more relatable than sacrosanct, and ultimately mediums for our humanity.

Kurelek used parables explicitly in paintings such as The Parable of the Sower (1963) and Satan Sowing Weeds in the Church (1963), but it is inexplicit in A Prairie Parable.

In the painting a haloed figure in a tunic stands on a sunny unplanted prairie field littered with dead Russian thistles (tumbleweeds) pointing to a thistle formed into a crown of thorns with one hand and with the other to a pair of men setting a fencepost topped with a cruciform rig as storm clouds approach.

The narrative of Matthew 16:21-28, Christ foretelling his Passion and calling for dedicated discipleship, may be the essence of A Prairie Parable. Faith and sacrifice were relevant and vital to Kurelek and course through his work, especially in the early 1970s. The painting’s composition and significance are also heightened by their direct relationship to the lithograph of the same title and year in the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Art Gallery of Ontario, and National Gallery of Canada.

The painting’s first owner, the Very Rev. Bruce McLeod, owned at least three other works by Kurelek, one of which was a commission and another that includes his portrait. In addition to being the Moderator of the United Church of Canada from 1972 to 1974, McLeod held senior positions with the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and mentioned Kurelek in his column for The Toronto Star.

While McLeod’s progressive social positions were likely at odds with Kurelek’s, their reverence for faith and good works would have been aligned. When he was 96 years old, McLeod answered a question about the meaning of faith at that age and said, “[it] means taking seriously this spirit that is still creating.”[1] It is another perspective Kurelek would have shared and one we see in A Prairie Parable.

[1] Erin Pepler, “‘God’s disappointment will still motivate some of us’,” Broadview (28 April 2025), https://broadview.org/bruce-mcleod/, accessed 29 September 2026.

Contributed by Gregory Humeniuk, an independent art historian, writer, and curator since 2016. Humeniuk has researched and published on modern-contemporary Canadian and international art, cultural policy and governance, and provided monetary appraisals for private and public collections. From 2022 to 2024, he was the Senior Specialist, Canadian Fine Art, at Waddington’s Auctioneers & Appraisers. From 1999 to 2016, he worked at the Art Gallery of Ontario in roles engaged with Canadian and European historical, modern, and contemporary art.

ABOUT THE AUCTION:

Headlining this auction are works by renowned Canadian artists Cornelius Krieghoff, Gordon Appelbe Smith, Frederick Arthur Verner, A.J. Casson, A.Y. Jackson, and William Kurelek, alongside international offerings by Edouard Cortès and Henri Lebasque. Also featured is a collection of works by Georges Mathieu, David Milne, and Eduardo Paolozzi from an Important Private Collection. Additional highlights include exceptional, unpublished works by Fernand Léger and Sir Alfred James Munnings.

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Saturday, November 14 from 12 pm to 4 pm
Sunday, November 15 from 12 pm to 4 pm
Monday, November 16 from 10 am to 5 pm
Tuesday, November 17 from 10 am to 7 pm
Wednesday, November 18 from 10 am to 5 pm

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