A New History: Russländer Painting in Ontario

This pop up exhibit was hosted at the Grebel Gallery during the summer of 2023 as part of the Russlaender 100.

The artworks that are exhibited share some common despite the different artists. Those of Woldemar Neufeld document the landscape and built environment of southwestern Ontario, the fruit of immediate, trained observations. They display confident experimentation with technique and medium over the course of decades-long professional career. Henry Pauls' paintings, by contrast, depict a subject - Mennonite village life in southern Ukraine - from great physical and temporal distance. In a folk-art tradition, the two artists in the gallery bring to visual form a retired man's memories of his childhood, a secure world marked by natural beauty and human industriousness.

Curated by David Y. Neufeld who is an Assistant Professor of History at Conrad Grebel University College. He directs the Institute of Anabaptist and Mennonite Studies.