This book examines the exemplary career of Joseph Giunta, a Quebec painter of Sicilian parents, who was born in Montreal in 1911 and died in 2001. Giunta's complex work reveals the happy and unhappy facets of his life. He was both revered and envied, known and yet unknown, local and yet foreign, settled and itinerant, a Quebecer and a Sicilian. These paradoxes are apparent in his paintings, where Moorish and ancient Sicilian influences surface amid white snow and Laurentian landscapes, as Giunta's fascination with modern abstraction influences his artistic development. His quest to conquer a new art form was acclaimed by critics who viewed him as a major figure in Quebec and Canadian art. But in 1975, Giunta's life was dealt a shattering blow: the devastating loss of his only son. From then on, fractures and chasms appeared like open wounds in the Giuntian style, which subsequently acquired more depth, relevance and truth. These can be seen in the body of Giunta's work present in this book, which may help restore the little-known artist to his rightful place in the panorama of 20tn-centure Quebec and Canadian art. Joseph Giunta's journey was unique, and the work he produced, reflecting his close engagement with the art of his time, is truly admirable.