Pike Ward's Iceland Photographs, objects and cuttings from the collection of an English fish merchant

Pike Ward (1856–1937) was an Englishman who became a well-known figure in Iceland around 1900. He first came to Iceland in 1893, and until 1915 he spent part of each year here, purchasing fish. Pike Ward operated one of the first trawlers in Icelandic waters and promoted utilisation of smaller fish from the catch – which came to be known as „vorðfiskur“ or “Ward's fish.” Ward paid the fishermen who supplied him in cash, previously unheard of in the fish business in Iceland.

Pike Ward was an amateur photographer and started photographing everyday life, before amateur photography began in Iceland. He traveled widely, including to places visited by few people and he made extensive stays in some places so he became familiar with the people and society. This is one of the things that makes Ward's photographic collection unique.

Pike Ward's entire photographic collection from Iceland, including the eight scrapbooks, albums and separate stereoscopic pairs, amounts to over 1500 pictures. Ward's lengthy stays in Iceland led him to begin collecting various typically Icelandic artifacts, with which he decorated his home in Devon. A total of 379 artifacts from Ward´s collection were returned to Iceland, probably the majority of the objects he collected here.

This exhibition displays a selection of Photographs, scrapbooks and artifacts from the Pike Ward collection.