HENRY GEORGE GLYDE

Henry George Glyde (1906-1998) was a Canadian artist and educator, best known for his social realist paintings depicting urban and rural prairie life. Born in Luton, England, Glyde was trained at the Royal College of Art in London, England. After graduating in 1930, he moved to Calgary to teach drawing at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art and in 1936 became head of the art department. He was also head of the painting division of the Banff School of Fine Arts from 1936 to 1966. In 1937 he began teaching community art classes with the Department of Extension, University of Alberta, where he went on to establish the Division of Fine Art. He taught there between 1946 and 1966.

Glyde’s most significant works are oils and murals documenting aspects of urban and rural prairie scenes and his use of allegorical themes in his figurative and landscape paintings. By experimenting with texture and abstraction, Glyde created a distinctive reflection of Western Canada based on direct observation and interaction with its landscape and people.

He was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy in 1949 and traveled to Europe in 1958 upon being awarded a senior fellowship from the Canada Council for the Arts. Retiring in 1966, he moved to Pender Island, B.C. with his wife, where he continued to paint, eventually receiving an honourary doctorate from the University of Alberta in 1982.

Glyde’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Toronto Art Gallery, the Glenbow Museum and other public and private collections.

For more information, as well as other works by the artist, visit lochgallery.com