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 center 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 dramatised 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
Medium • oil on canvas
FIRST EXHIBITION WITH CHRISTOPHER MOLLER GALLERY • 2016
Explore his Work
Previous exhibitions by Ablade Glover
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 88, Still At It, Christopher Moller Gallery South Africa. The Passage of Time, Hourglass Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria
2019 Wogbe Jeke - We Have Come a Long Way, October Gallery, London, UK Professor Ablade Glover: The Last 20 Years and Beyond, Gallery 1957, Accra, Ghana
2017 - JPK Gallery, Paris, France
2016 INDIVISIBLE: Ablade Glover, Christopher Moller Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2014 80th Anniversary, October Gallery, London, UK. 2013 Art Dubai, Nubuke Foundation, Dubai, UAE.
2013 - Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE, with Nubuke Foundation, Accra, Ghana
2009 75th Anniversary, October Gallery, London, UK.
2001 - Ablade Glover: New Works by the Renowned Ghanaian Artist, October Gallery, London, UK
2000 - Galerie Arts Pluriels (now LouiSimone Guirandou Gallery), Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
1999 - Ablade Glover: New Works, October Gallery, London, UK
1998 - City Hall, Toronto and City Hall, Hamilton, Canada (touring)
1995 - Ablade Glover, October Gallery, London, UK
1991 - Biz Art Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
1990 - Galerie Arts Pluriels (now LouiSimone Guirandou Gallery), Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
1989 - British Council, Accra, Ghana
1987 - Ablade Glover: Recent Oil Paintings, October Gallery, London, UK
1986 Galerie Go, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
1984 UCLA International Students Centre, Los Angeles, USA Ablade Glover, October Gallery, London, UK 1983 - The Commonwealth Institute, London, UK 1982 Hotel Mammy Yoko, Freetown, Sierra Leone Africa Centre, London, UK Ablade Glover, October Gallery, London, UK 1982 Africa Centre, London, UK. Hotel Mammy Yoko, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
1972 Art Centre, Accra, Ghana 1970 Art Centre, Accra, Ghana
1968 Art Centre, Accra, Ghana 1963 Art Centre, Accra, Ghana
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
2023 RMB Latitudes Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa with Christopher Moller Gallery
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa, with Christopher Moller Gallery
1-54 Art Fair, LouiSimone Guirandou Gallery, New York (USA)
2022 Autumn Is Fresh, Christopher Moller Gallery
The Sown Seed, Efiɛ Gallery, Dubai (UAE)
2021 Painting Unbound: Artists of the Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK
The Magic of Crowds, Hourglass Gallery, Lagos Nigeria Centre, Los Angeles, USA.
2020 1-54 Art Fair, La Mamounia Marrakech, Morroco with Louisimone Guirandou Gallery
2019 - Dream No Small Dream: Celebrating 40 Years of the Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK
2017 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa, with October Gallery, London, UK
2016 - FNB Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa with Christopher Moller Gallery 2016
Winter Collective, Tasneem Gallery, Barcelona, Spain Art16, London, UK with October Gallery, London, UK
2015 - Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town, South Africa with Christopher Moller Gallery Africa Africa,
Museu Afro Brazil, São Paulo, Brazil
1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Somerset House, London, UK, with October Gallery, London, UK
2014 - 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Somerset House, London, UK, with October Gallery, London, UK
2012 - Transmission Part 2, Tasneem Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
2011 - FNB Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa, with October Gallery, London, UK
2010 - I See You, Tasneem Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
2009 - FNB Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa, with October Gallery, 2008 London, UK 2008 Visions & Dreams, Tasneem Gallery, Barcelona, Spain FNB Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa, with October Gallery, London, UK Spring Show, October Gallery, London, UK
1999 - The Transvangarde, October Gallery, London, UK 1998 - Colours of Africa, City Civic Center Hamilton, Toronto and Winnipeg, Canada (touring)
1997 - IFA Gallery, Bonn, Germany 1995 - Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (touring)
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
AAI African-American Institute Head Office, New York, USA Africa Centre, London, UK
Ashanti Goldfields Company Headquarters, Accra, Ghana Arts Council of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
Barclays Bank Ghana Ltd., Accra, Ghana
Commonwealth Foundation, London, UK
Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, Accra, Ghana
ICC International Conference Centre, Accra, Ghana
Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University, California, USA
Kosmos Energy, Texas, USA Mobil Oil Ghana Ltd., Accra, Ghana
National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos, Nigeria National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
O'Hare International Airport (mural), Chicago, USA Ohio State University International House, Columbus, USA Royal Collection of Prince and Princess Takamado, Tokyo, Japan Société Générale Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Ltd., Accra, Ghana Tullow Oil PLC, London, UK
UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France Visiting Arts, London, UK World Bank, Washington D. C., USA World Bank, Accra, Ghana
EDUCATION
1957 – 58 Kumasi College of Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
1959 – 62 Central School of Art and Design, London, UK
1964 – 65 Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
1971 – 72 Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, USA
1972 – 74 Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA