William Kurelek was born in 1927; he was the oldest of seven children of Ukrainian immigrants, who first settled on a farm in Withford, Alberta, which they lost during the Great Depression, and later, on a farm in Stonewall, Manitoba. William’s difficult childhood was later reflected in his literary and artistic works. William Kurelek wrote fifteen books, translated into many languages and published in 400 000 copies. His most popular books were the clearly autobiographical A Prairie Boy’s Summer and A Prairie Boy’s Winter.

He also illustrated these books, which demonstrated the enormous artistic talent of author Kurelek. It was painting that made him famous.

Called the “American Peter Brueghelem” (a famous 16^th-century Dutchman called a “peasant painter”), he created a series of paintings that depict the trials in the lives of peasant immigrants. His works are considered to belong to the primitive-realist movement.

William Kurelek got to know the Polish immigrant community pretty well, and met Polish volunteers who introduced him to knowledge about the life of Polish pioneers in Canada. He was influenced by the book History and Integration of Poles in Canada, written by Boleslaw Makowski and published in 1967 by the Canadian Polish Congress. In fact, Kurelek painted 26 pictures of the first Polish settlers’ lives and wrote a book called The Polish Canadians, in which he interpreted particular pictures.

He finished the Polish series a few months before his death in 1977.

Thanks to the initiative of Tadeusz Glista, The Polish Canadians was purchased by The Polish Alliance of Canada, with financial help from Defasco, The Marie Curie-Sklodowska Association, West Life Assurance Co., Jan Kotowski, the Oblate Fathers of Assumption Province, and Wintario.

The exposition of these works was organized at Place Polonaise in Grimsby and, later, was sent to Poland for a few months; after its return, it was donated to the Art Gallery of Hamilton. The signatures of PAC Head Executive Board President Henryk Lopinski and Founders’ Chairperson Tadeusz Glista are visible on the donation act. Every year, Kurelek’s Memorial takes place at the University of Toronto, during which a cycle of lectures about his works takes place.