William Kurelek in Toronto
ACI Art Talk explores artist’s relationship with art dealer Avrom Isaacs
In this ACI Art Talk Andrew Kear, author of William Kurelek: Life & Work, and artist Tony Urquhart explore the relationship between the William Kurelek and Toronto art dealer Avrom Isaacs, the man who launched his career.
In the 1960s Isaacs Gallery represented some of the country’s most avant-garde contemporary artists, including Michael Snow, Joyce Wieland, and Greg Curnoe. Isaacs met Kurelek in 1959 and greatly impressed with the artist’s work, he offered Kurelek a job in the gallery’s frame shop. Kurelek’s first solo show at the gallery in March 1960, broke Isaacs’s previous attendance records and set the foundation for future career success for both Kurelek and Isaacs.
Watch William Kurelek’s Toronto: The Artist and the Av Isaacs Scene to learn more about the artist’s meteoric rise to fame.
William Kurelek, Farm Boy’s Dreams, 1961, watercolour and ink on board, 76.2 x 101.6 cm, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.