Laurence Hyde

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). Life 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 Hyde (1946– ) and Christopher (1949–2014), both novelists. Work Film