Paul Kane (1810–1871) was born in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland, and immigrated with his family to Upper Canada in 1819. Largely self-taught as a painter, he studied briefly in Europe before returning to Toronto, inspired by the work of American artist George Catlin. Determined to document the Indigenous peoples and landscapes of the Canadian West, Kane secured permission from Sir George Simpson of the Hudson’s Bay Company to travel through it's territories.
Between 1846 and 1848, Kane undertook an ambitious journey from Toronto to the Pacific Coast and back, travelling by canoe, horseback, and on foot. His route took him through the Great Lakes, across the prairies to Fort Edmonton, over the Rockies to Fort Vancouver near present-day Portland, and eventually back east via York Factory and Lake Superior. Along the way, he encountered and sketched numerous Indigenous nations.
Wanderings of an Artist is Kane’s detailed written record of this journey.
For the first time, hundreds of his sketches are examined together, revealing a remarkable range of subjects and providing vital visual documentation of the North American West.
