Ablade Glover

“Named as one of the fathers of modern African art” by Bonhams London.

Professor Ablade Glover was born in Accra, Ghana, in 1934. While studying at Kumasi in 1957, his country gained independence from Great Britain. Ghana was the first African country to break away from it’s colonial rulers, setting a precedent at the time. The new government led by Dr. Kwame Nkumah wanted Ghanaians to embrace the local culture of its people, yet at the same time to learn modern western skills. The government encouraged artisans to accept bursaries abroad in order to learn the skills required, which could then be brought back and passed on to the locals.

Glover, then a student at Kumasi, accepted a scholarship to study textile design at London’s School of Art and Design. On returning to Ghana, the factory where he was assigned to work in designing textiles had not yet been built, consequently freeing him, after a two-year contract of teaching, to return to England once again. In 1964, he accepted a new scholarship personally authorised by Kwame Nkrumah himself, to study Art Education at Newcastle University. After teaching for another period in Ghana, he traveled to the United States to do a master’s degree at Kent State University before moving on to Ohio University, where he was awarded a doctorate, in 1974. Upon completion of his studies he returned to Ghana, where for the next 20 years he taught full time at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in Kumasi, eventually rising to become both the Departmental Head and College Dean. After retiring in 1994, Glover began painting full time. His other great goal was to open a gallery and training center in Accra to showcase emerging artists from the African continent. Then, in 1993 he formed the Artist Alliance Gallery. In 2007, Glover used private funds to build a large three story building overlooking the oceanfront in Accra, where he moved the gallery and training canter to. Glover is passionate about his community and country, and strongly believes in giving back the skills he has learnt as an artist and teacher.

Galleries have represented Glover’s work globally since 1962. There is a wonderful sense of vibrancy and texture to his paintings. He often jokes that he has to buy his paint in bulk because of the huge amounts of oil he applies on the canvas. Glover’s work appeals to all the senses through the use of a ‘wet-on-wet’ technique and thick application of paint, producing a very luscious and dramatized result. His work is grouped into the following categories: ‘Profiles’, ‘The People’, ‘Market’, ‘Social Commentary’, ‘Townscapes’, ‘Forestscapes’, ‘Beachscapes’, ‘Prayerscapes’, ‘Trosto Stations’ and ‘Celebrations’. Glover typically uses bright and bold colours with an element of pointillism that requires the viewer to stand back from the scenes in order for the shapes, tones and colours to blend into each other. There is also a wonderful ‘looseness’ to his work, which displays the confidence of his style and experience as an artist. Professor Glover’s work portrays the energy and intensity of a young man who, in 2014, celebrated his 80th birthday. When asked where this passion comes from, he says from his first love, his country and the people of Ghana.

Glover’s work can be found in both public and private collections worldwide, including the Imperial Palace Collection of Japan, the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, amongst others. He has exhibited extensively in West Africa, Europe, the USA and Japan, and is a recipient of the distinguished AFGRAD Alumni Award by the African-American Institute in New York, as well as a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Art, in London.

NDD, ATD, Med, PhD, FRSA, FGA (b. 1934, Accra, Ghana).

Trained in Ghana, Britain and the United States, Dr Glover has earned a number of distinctions, which demonstrate his importance as an artist and an enthusiastic educator on the national and international art scene. Until 1994, he was Professor of the Department of Art Education and Dean of the College of Art at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. The foundation of Glover’s Artists Alliance Gallery brought international attention to traditional and contemporary African art alike.

Throughout his life and career Glover has received numerous awards of which the most outstanding includes: The Flagstar Award (the highest award for Arts in Ghana) by the ACRAG (1998), the Distinguished AFGRAD Alumni Award by the African-American Institute in New York, the Ghana Order of the Volta (2007) and the Millennium Excellence Award (2010). Glover is also listed in Who’s Who in the World, the Dictionary of Contemporary International Artists as well as the Who’s Who in Art and Antiques.

COUNTRY • GHANA