Glyde is celebrated for his representations of the western Canadian landscape. The contributions he made to the culture of Alberta are reflected in the enthusiastic range and depth of his artistic output in this region. The quiet rhythms and softly rounded hills, which characterize much of his painting in England, are here transformed into monumental and solid representations of mountains, rocks and trees. As the frequent painting companion to his friend A. Y. Jackson, Glyde was an important link between the wilderness painting of Ontario’s Group of Seven and the artists of western Canada. His landscapes convey a deep admiration for the richness and varied terrain of the Canadian landscape while keeping a style and expression that is distinctly of the West.
Excerpt from H.G. Glyde: Works from the Estate, Masters Gallery Ltd., 2010
Throughout his long career as an artist and teacher in Calgary, Banff, and Edmonton, English born and educated Henry G. Glyde was a key player in the development of art in Alberta over a 30-year period starting in 1935. In his practice and teaching, Glyde promoted the development of a…
Throughout his long career as an artist and teacher in Calgary, Banff, and Edmonton, English born and educated Henry G. Glyde was a key player in the development of art in Alberta over a 30-year period starting in 1935. In his practice and teaching, Glyde promoted the development of a distinctive view of Western Canada based on direct observation and interaction with the landscape and its people.
Following a major retrospective exhibition at the Glenbow Museum in 1987, the estate of H.G. Glyde donated a collection of 573 works to Glenbow in 1998, representing the enormous legacy of the artist’s work in this region. The collection illustrates different periods during his career where he experimented with a variety of media and styles, and demonstrates his strong technical drawing abilities. It also includes several works by his students, emphasising his impact as a teacher in the early professional arts community. With the addition of this donation, Glenbow Museum has 820 works by Glyde making it the most important centre in Canada for the research of Glyde’s life and work. – Glenbow Museum
