Ukrainian-Polish Émigré Themes in the Art of William Kurelek: An Attempt to Analyze

Abstract

The article outlines and analyzes the images and stories of the history of Polish and Ukrainian early immigrants to Canada, as exemplified by the picturesque series Ukrainian immigrants and Polish Canadians, from the Canadian artist of Ukrainian descent William Kurelek. The purpose of this study is to characterize the preconditions and history of the thematic series Ukrainian immigrants and The Polish Canadians. Such characterization encompasses analyzing individual works, highlighting the typology of common compositional content stories, as well as detailing the psychological and cultural climate and varieties of nonconformism of each national group. An analysis of the common and distinct cultural, religious, behavioral and ethnic features of the Polish and Ukrainian immigrant groups in Canadian society is conducted on the basis of these artistic works. The article also describes the socio-psychological narrative which the artist successfully and meticulously reflected in his works. This shows us the whole range of intercultural contacts and social transformations that took place in the local Polish-Ukrainian groups within the multicultural environment of Canada. Based on his works a typology of common compositional and content plots was conducted, separating them into several subgroups: folk traditions, childhood, leadership, religious identity, and the history of the first settlers.