Defiant Beauty: William Hind in the Labrador Peninsula

In the summer of 1861, Canadian artist William Hind (1833-1889) accompanied his brother Henry on his first exploration of the interior of the Labrador Peninsula, a vast, defiant landscape of breathtaking beauty. Few Europeans had traveled into this inaccessible and near mythical land which, after more than ten thousand years, still remains the familiar home of many First Nation’s peoples. Hind’s expedition left Sept-Isles and journeyed up the Moisie River, today in Quebec, to assess its natural resources and its Aboriginal peoples, then along the North Shore to Anticosti Island, to evaluate the state of Canadian fisheries as they related to the Atlantic colonies of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Curated by Gilbert Gignac and framed by his extensive new research, this exhibition presents for the first time over 150 of William Hind’s compelling ‘Labrador’ sketches, watercolours and paintings borrowed from 13 major Canadian galleries/institutions and 6 private collectors. This exhibition and the film series Metropolis: The City In the Cinema represent the Dalhousie Art Gallery’s contribution to Creative Diversity: Artistic Perspectives on Immigration to Canada that will be held in conjunction with the 10th National Metropolis Conference taking place 3 – 6 April in Halifax http://www.metropolis2008.net.