Artist Database

Allerley Glossop was born and educated in England. She studied sculpture and painting at the Slade School of Fine Art in London under Sir George Frampton and Sir Charles Holroyd, and also attended the Central and Westminster Schools of Art in London. She taught life classes at the Sphinx Studio before moving to South Africa in 1900. Glossop settled first at Klapmuts in the Western Cape, where she farmed and painted. She defied convention by wearing men’s clothing with a pith helmet and smoking a pipe. She travelled widely, often venturing into rural areas on her own to paint the open landscape including figures and animals, and she was obsessed with the effect of sunsets on the landscape. Many of her paintings are marked by a quiet, atmospheric blush of pinks and rosy tones. Her painting of Thaba Bosigo was given as a wedding present to Princess Elizabeth by the people of Basutoland. She worked in oils, pastel, watercolour and gouache, and in various graphic media. She also took a studio in Cape Town where she was in contact with Nita Spilhaus, Beatrice Hazell and Ruth Prowse. Glossop was on the council and an active member of The South African Society of Arts and a member of the Natal Society of Arts. Glossop farmed in Wellington, Western Cape, and travelled regularly to England, before settling in Lion’s River in Natal in 1925, where she farmed until her death in 1955. Glossop held several solo exhibitions in London, but more seldomly in South Africa. She participated in numerous group exhibitions, including many South African Society of Arts exhibitions and The British Empire Exhibition. Glossop's work is represented in most of the public collections in South Africa.