Artwork of the Week

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Dinnertime on the Prairies, William Kurelek, 1963. Oil on masonite.
McMaster University Collection, Hamilton, Ontario

Click on image to see larger.

Dinnertime on the Prairies is best described by the artist himself. On the label for the back of the painting Kurelek wrote, “This is an intuitive painting. I was wondering how to paint a Western religious painting and suddenly this idea came to me so it is open to interpretation. The meaning I put on it is that sin, which crucifies Christ over and over, can just as easily happen on a summer day on a Manitoba farm as anywhere else. The farmer and his sons doing the fencing may have had an argument just before dinner or one of them may have enjoyed a lustful thought. Or got an idea how to revenge himself on neighbours, etc.”
To preview the exhibition and learn more about William Kurelek, visit: kurelek.ca.

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