ARCA OC OSA
1927 - 1977
Canadian
Fox and Geese
mixed media on board
initialed and dated 1973
13 x 13 1/4 in, 33 x 33.7 cm
Estimate: $30,000 - $50,000 CAD
Sold for: $97,250
Preview at:
PROVENANCE
A Prominent Montreal Estate
LITERATURE
William Kurelek, A Prairie Boy’s Winter, 1973, a related work reproduced, unpaginated
Fox and geese was a game of farm children for generations, and here William Kurelek depicts his memories of the game. Kurelek wrote:
Usually these pies, or wheels with spokes, were tramped out in a clear unspoiled stretch of snow just outside the schoolyard which the children had to crawl through the school fence to reach.
The game was already in full swing…A fox had been chosen—or had volunteered—and he chased anyone he thought he could tag. The tagged one would then become the fox.
It was no fun being a fox if you were slow, because you got teased a lot…Everyone, fox and goose had to stay on the lines of the wheel or pie, and it was hard to pass anyone without falling into the snow and being disqualified. Some tried to sneak up as close as possible to the fox and then escape him narrowly. Others made faces at him from the safety of home. Home was the hub of the wheel, and there the geese were safe.
Kurelek’s body of work based on his life growing up on the Prairies in Manitoba is extraordinary, and Fox and Geese is a wonderful example from it—finely detailed and full of atmosphere.
This work is in the original frame made by the artist.
Estimate: $30,000 - $50,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
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