PROVENANCE
The Isaacs Gallery Ltd., Toronto
Important Canadian Art, Sotheby's Toronto, May 2001, lot 27
Private Collection, Toronto

LITERATURE
William Kurelek, A Prairie Boy's Summer, 1975, unpaginated

Here, William Kurelek showcases an unusual event in the prairie countryside—a distraction display of a killdeer, a kind of plover, as a way of protecting its eggs. A very similar scene is described in A Prairie Boy’s Summer, in which Kurelek describes stumbling upon a nest while herding cows through the field: “A killdeer’s nest lies flat, naked and exposed on the ground, and this one was so cleverly camouflaged that William had found it only by accident. One day as he was passing the mother bird flew up, then fell to the ground some yards away, cying and fluttering, pretending her wing was broken. He knew from the extra-big fuss she made he must be very close to her nest.”

This work is in the original frame made by Kurelek.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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