Christopher Moller Gallery

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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