William Kurelek's Huronia Mission Paintings This volume presents
a biographical synopsis of Kurelek's life and work, to better
place each of the 21 paintings in the perspective of the
artist's temperament. Each reproduction is followed by a
commentary that is a highly informative blend of aesthetics,
history, theology, linguistics, geography, and ethnography. The
result is a sustained meditation on what actually transpired
between the Hurons, Iroquois, and the eight French missionaries
who were destined for martyrdom. This volume provides a valuable
effort to enter into the vision of Christianity which animates
the pictures themselves, and to account for what Kurelek was
able to portray about the daily life and spiritual vision of the
Jesuits and their companions, about the Hurons and the Iroquois.
This book will be a useful introduction to the Christian
experiment that was Huronia, and an initial interpretation of
Kurelek's paintings. This volume combines an historian's
objectivity, a scholar's criticism, an