The Letter

This painting is inspired by a letter written by the then-nine-year-old Katie Domytryk to her father, H. Domytryk. At the time of the letter, Katie was the eldest of four children in the family; the others were seven, two and a half, and one. Her father was arrested in March 1916 in Edmonton, where he worked for the Swift Packing Company and was paying off a small house he had purchased. Only able to leave a few dollars for his family to live on, H. Domytryk was initially interned at Lethbridge, Alberta but later transferred over 2,500 kilometers away to Spirit Lake, Quebec. As a prisoner, he feared that his wife was forced to beg for bread and that his children were starving and suffering from exposure in their small home. When G. Willrich, U.S. Consul at Quebec City, inspected the camp in November 1916, he described his first meeting with Domytryk, when the "poor father" handed him a "pathetic letter" written in English by his eldest child.

Limited Edition Run of 300 Small 12” x 18” $160 (+tax) Medium 16” x 24” $225 (+tax) Large 20” x 30” $290 (+tax) Extra Large 24” x 36” $350 (+tax). We can accommodate custom print sizes at your request. Prints can be laminated, please ask for details. All prints come with a Certificate of Authenticity, which includes the print number, date, artist’s signature and above text.