Laurence Hyde (artist)

Laurence Hyde
Laurence Hyde in 1945
Born	Laurence Evelyn Hyde 6 June 1914 Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, England, U.K.
Died	8 August 1987(1987-08-08) (aged 73)

Laurence Evelyn Hyde (6 June 1914 – 8 August 1987) was an English-born Canadian film maker, painter, and graphic artist, known for his work with the National Film Board of Canada, stamp designs for the Canadian Postal Service, and the wordless novel Southern Cross (1951).

Hyde was born in the United Kingdom at Kingston Upon Thames (near London), but immigrated to Canada with his parents in 1926. Settling in Toronto, Hyde was drawn to the arts by exhibits at the Art Gallery of Toronto (now the Art Gallery of Ontario) and especially seeing Lawren Harris’ North Shore, Lake Superior. "That was the first one that made a great impression on me and it’s then that I became really serious about art." He began attending night classes at Toronto’s Central Technical High School where his teachers included Carl Schaefer and Charles Goldhamer. In the early 1930s, Hyde took up wood engraving, and other forms of block engraving, his work often appearing as illustrations or cover art for left-wing publications, such as New Advance and New Frontier. In 1942, Hyde moved to Ottawa, joining the National Film Board of Canada under John Grierson and worked at the NFB until his retirement in 1972. Hyde was married in 1939 to Bettye Marguerite Bambridge, and had two sons, Anthony (1946– ) and Christopher (1949– ), both novelists.

Hyde’s film-making at the NFB fell into two periods. Beginning in 1945, he directed a number of films in typical NFB documentary style, including Fur Trade (1946, produced by Harry Campbell), Bronco Busters (1946, about the Calgary Stampede) and Art for Everybody (1948, produced by Sydney Newman, part of the Canada Carries On series). During the McCarthyite period, people identified as having left-wing political affiliations were not permitted to hold positions normally given film credits, thereby compelling many film-makers to leave the Board, and forcing Hyde out of film production into the Board's promotion department, where he spent the next seventeen years. He returned to film-making in 1967 with the first of the Tuktu series, which eventually included thirteen documentary films for children based around the life of an Inuit boy and his family. These films were very successful, distributed worldwide, and were recognised at the 21st Venice Biennale. Hyde also made more conventional documentaries, such as Tugboat (1968), Family House (1970, based on an essay by the architect Humphrey Carver) and City Limits (1971, an exploration of the North American city through the eyes of Jane Jacobs.)