William Kurelek. Home On The Range, 1967. Mixed media on hardboard, Overall: 121.9 × 184.2 cm. The Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario. © Estate of William Kurelek, courtesy of the Wynick/Tuck Gallery, Toronto./Supplied
Winter came early and hard this year in much of the country. Still, in the era of climate change, this snow scene by Ukrainian-Canadian artist William Kurelek feels like nostalgia. Those who remember the snows of yesteryear will immediately recognize this kind of night, when the air is clear but frigid and the ground squeaks underfoot.
Editors chose Home on the Range for The Globe’s 30th annual holiday cover because they appreciated its fierce, almost abstract composition, with its strong division into blue-white snow and grey-blue sky, the bright moon balanced by a bare tree in the opposite corner. And they enjoyed analyzing the antics of the Bruegel-like figures who populate the scene, including children playing along a high ridge of drifted snow that bisects the Prairie fields.
In the background, one child chases another with a spear. In the centre, a boy appears helplessly stuck in the snowbank. Are the two boys to the right tunnelling toward him or simply amusing themselves? Nearby, a small girl wearing snow gear under her skirt pulls her toboggan determinedly toward the ridge.
The painting, dating to 1967, may now seem nostalgic, but it is not sentimental. Indeed, its human observation is rather apt. People who know winter are resilient, resourceful, resolute – and not lacking a certain sly sense of humour.