Private collection, Calgary

Henry George Glyde played an integral role in the development of western Canada’s culture both as an artist and art educator. Glyde came to Canada in 1935 to teach drawing at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary and he became the director of the art department the following year. He was also the 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 at the University of Alberta in Edmonton where he went on to establish the Fine Art Department. He taught there between 1946 and 1966. 

Glyde’s most significant works documented aspects of urban and rural prairie life in a style that could be called social realism. The emphasis on structural realities carried over to his interpretation of the Alberta landscape and to his portrayal of the B.C. coast. Retiring from teaching in 1966, Glyde moved to Pender Island, B.C., where he continued to paint, eventually receiving an honorary 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 Glenbow Museum, as well as numerous public and private collections. The Glenbow Museum held a major retrospective exhibition for the artist in 1987.