William Perehudoff Canadian, 1918-2013
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The Optimism of Colour Retrospective; Kamloops Art Museum
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William Perehudoff’s upbringing in a small prairie farming community shaped his unique approach to color. Working alongside post-war icons such as Kenneth Noland and Jules Olitski, Perehudoff is a key yet under-historicized figure in the development of color field painting. Maintaining a dedication to the Saskatchewan farmlands that so-deeply informed his practice. In 1947, Perehudoff came into contact with several Canadian artists working towards abstraction, namely Lawren Harris. By the 1950s, Perehudoff began travelling to Europe, studying under Amédée Ozenfant and marrying fellow Canadian artist Dorothy Knowles. The couple settled in Saskatchewan and were instrumental in developing an international presence for Canadian abstraction through the Emma Lake Workshops.
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William Perehudoff and Jack Bush pioneered Canadian Color Field painting; Perehudoff continued to receive several honors in the 1990s and 2000s. He was given the Canada 125 Commemorative Medal in 1993, the Member of the Order of Canada in 1999, an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Regina in 2003, and the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal in 2005. In 2010, a large exhibition of his work, The Optimism of Colour, was organized by Mendel Art Gallery and traveled to several institutions throughout Canada. Its catalogue, in French and English, included essays by Karen Wilkin, Roald Nasgaard, and Robert Christie. Perehudoff continued to farm and paint until close to the time of his passing in 2013. Perehudoff's works are held in the public collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, Portland Art Museum, Art Gallery of Alberta, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Glenbow Museum, and the Canada Council Art Bank, among others. Nikola Rukaj Gallery has represented the Perehudoff Estate for several decades; the gallery is steward to the legacy of Perehudoff and upholds a commitment to advancing the enduring cultural significance of his art.
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Installation view of The Optimism of Colour Retrospective at Kamloops Art Gallery, 2011
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Installation view at Rukaj Gallery
William Perehudoff Canadian, 1918-2013
Thalia #19, 1970Acrylic on canvas78 x 108 in.
198.1 x 274.3 cm.Series: ThaliaSigned, dated, and titled versoFurther images
Exhibitions
The Optimism of Colour: William Perehudoff Retrospective | Mendel Art Gallery (Saskatoon, SK), Oct. 01, 2010 - Jan. 09, 2011; Kamloops Art Gallery (Kamloops, BC), Mar. 26 - May 28, 2011; Art Gallery of Windsor (Windsor, ON), Jan. 12 - May 31, 2012; Robert McLaughlin Gallery (Oshawa, ON), Jul. 07 - Sept. 09, 2012.Literature
The Optimism of Colour, Mendel Art Gallery, 2010 (Page 143 Plate 34). ISBN 9781896359731Publications
The Optimism of Colour, Mendel Art Gallery, 2010 (Page 143 Plate 34). ISBN 9781896359731Thalia #19 stands as a definitive work of the Colour Field movement. Expanding on the visual language first developed during the Emma Lake Workshops, 1970 occupies a distinctive position in...Thalia #19 stands as a definitive work of the Colour Field movement. Expanding on the visual language first developed during the Emma Lake Workshops, 1970 occupies a distinctive position in Perehudoff’s oeuvre, between the structured clarity of hard-edge abstraction and the atmospheric playfulness seen in contemporaries such as Olitski’s Core paintings. In Thalia, bands of colour arc, press, and lean against a dominant circular form, creating visual tension and resolution across the canvas. The work exemplifies Perehudoff’s commitment to pure, open colour while simultaneously asserting a rigorous formal architecture. Despite maintaining a studio practice on his farm in Saskatchewan, Perehudoff’s artistic concerns were decidedly international. Thalia #19 was included in the touring retrospective The Optimism of Color, organized by the Mendel Art Gallery, which was exhibited at five major Canadian art institutions. The Thalia series has since been recognized as a significant body of work, contributing to the reassessment of Perehudoff’s role in shaping both national and international discourses on Post-War Abstraction. Works from this series are now held in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Alberta, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and the MacKenzie Art Gallery.
Exhibitions-
Ten Variations on a Theme
Group Exhibition 5 Jun - 31 Jul 2025Rukaj Gallery is pleased to present Ten Paintings - an exhibition focusing on large-scale work. The emergence of Abstract Expressionism in the late 1940s marked a turning point in the... -
William Perehudoff
Solo Exhibition 10 Oct - 7 Nov 2024Perehudoff: Three Decades follows the Canadian abstractionist through the 1960s to his later work of the 1990s. This exhibition traces the evolution of William Perehudoff, one of Canada’s foremost colour... -
William Perehudoff
Solo 2 Nov - 7 Dec 2017Read more
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