Joseph Drapell (b. 1940)

Born Josef Drapell in German-occupied territory near Prague in the present-day Czech Republic, his interest in art was piqued as a young boy growing up in a country that traded one occupier for the next. Czechoslovakia - under communist Soviet control following the war - would never allow Drapell to enjoy true freedom of artistic expression. He eventually fled his homeland, first stopping in Vienna, before ultimately settling in Canada in 1966.

After a brief spell at the venerable Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, MI, Drapell returned to Canada in 1970, settling in Toronto - though he frequently traveled between the two countries in pursuit of exhibition opportunities in both Toronto and New York. Those opportunities arrived almost immediately, as he enjoyed solo exhibitions with both Robert Elkon Gallery in New York, and Dunkelman Gallery back home in Toronto.

Drapell splits time between his homes in Toronto and Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. He has enjoyed significant acclaim over the course of his career, having works placed and shown in galleries and institutions including the Guggenheim (New York), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo), the Clement Greenberg Collection at the Portland (OR) Museum of Art, André Emmerich Galleries, the National Gallery (Prague), Eva Cohon Gallery (Chicago), Meredith Long Gallery (Houston and New York), O’Reilly Galleries (New York), and many others.