William Hind was a painter and illustrator who produced sketches and paintings of early Canada. Born in Nottingham, England he spent the greater part of his life living in Canada. This watercolour depicts Seven Islands located beside Moisie in the northern region of Labrador, which was the location of a mission and Hudson's Bay post. In 1861 William met his brother Henry in Montreal and joined his exploration party to Labrador as expedition artist, producing hundreds of sketches on the journey. Many of his sketches of the landscape and customs of the local Labrador Naskapi and Montagnais were used as woodcut illustrations in Henry’s published report of the journey “Explorations in the interior of the Labrador peninsula” in 1863. These sketches were also the foundation for a group of larger watercolour works completed upon the return to Toronto which were also used as coloured lithographs in the same report.
William Hind was born in Nottingham, England but spent the greater part of his life living in Canada. The son of Sarah and Thomas who was a lace manufacturer, the family immigrated to Canada in 1851 to join William’s brother Henry who had immigrated in 1846. Henry was an author and explorer who taught at the Toronto Normal School, and became William’s mentor. Upon arriving in Canada at the age of 18, William was appointed ‘drawing master’ at the Toronto Normal School (1851-7) and opened a studio in Toronto.
During a trip back to England in the late 1850’s Hind was influenced by Pre-Raphaelite artists such as Rosetti and Millais and their fine attention to detail. Upon his return to Canada in 1861 he met his brother in Montreal and joined his exploration party to the Moisie River as expedition artist, producing hundreds of sketches on the journey. Many of his sketches of the landscape and customs of the local Labrador Naskapi and Montagnais were used as woodcut illustrations in Henry’s published report of the journey “Explorations in the interior of the Labrador peninsula” in 1863. These sketches were also the foundation for a group of larger watercolour works completed upon the return to Toronto which were also used as coloured lithographs in the same report.
In April 1862 Hind joined the trek of approximately 150 travellers headed for the gold fields in British Columbia. The group, called the “Overlanders”, followed the old fur trader’s trails travelling westward from Fort Garry across the prairies and over the Rocky Mountains to the Cariboo Gold Rush. The perilous trip took several months and Hind documented the journey with sketchbooks and detailed watercolours. After a short stay in the Cariboo he moved to Victoria where he lived for several years working as an artist and sign painter. He returned to the Cariboo in 1864 where he produced a number of detailed watercolours documenting the gold fields.
Hind lived in Winnipeg from 1869-70 where he continued to sketch and paint. In June 1870 two woodcuts of Cree and Ojibwa Indians were published in the Illustrated London News, part of a series to illustrate life in the new province which had just joined Confederation. William moved to Windsor, Nova Scotia, following his brother, possibly working as a draughtsman for the International Railway Company. He continued to sketch and paint in the smaller rural areas. He settled in Sussex, New Brunswick where he died in 1889. His Cariboo works travelled with him and were discovered in 1927 in the attic of Henry’s house in Windsor.
William Hind’s works were exhibited at the Upper Canada Provincial Exhibition in 1852 and the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London in 1886, as well as numerous advertising, travel and newspaper publications. His work is represented in private and public institutions worldwide, including the National Gallery in Ottawa and Dalhousie University in Halifax.