Professional Bio
In reflection of five decades of work, from the time she first put brush to canvas, Glenda Green’s work exhibits a remarkable range of accomplishment.
In all of her paintings we see visual discernment, and standards of quality set by the greatest artists of all time. Regardless of the subject or medium, her work is marked by sophisticated composition; adept orchestration of color, light, and brushwork; with great depth of symbolic communication, allegory, metaphor, and visual syntax.
With paintings in such important collections as the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of the City of New York, Williams College Museum of Art, and the State Art Collection of Oklahoma, Glenda Green has for many years been considered one of America’s finest realist oil painters. Her thriving and extensive career began after graduating magna cum laude with honors in painting from Texas Christian University. Continuing in her academic preparation, she obtained an M.A. in art history from Tulane University. There she held a three-year Kress fellowship, taught art history on the faculty, and was curator of collections for the Newcomb College art department. During a portion of this period (1968-69) she worked at Fort Worth’s Kimbell Art Museum as Research Assistant to the institution’s first director. These extra dimensions of preparation and competency have added great breadth to her painting career, which began to seriously flower in the 70’s. Soon she would establish herself–among many of the nation’s leading scholars, critics, and museum officials–as one of the world’s foremost portrait painters and realists.
As her creative style emerged into full character, it was marked by intuitive exploration, profound subjective feeling, evocative color, and exquisite craftsmanship. Starting in 1980, her prints were published and distributed by Bruce McGaw Graphics of NYC, through which they were established in the national and international marketplace. Today, her original paintings are housed in major collections throughout the United States.
Her preferred medium is oil painting, although she has received many outstanding reviews for her work in pencil, pen, and lithography. Her subject matter has ranged from portraiture, to interpretive figure studies, to landscape, and still life. In all of it, she is a master of composition, color, and light with a superb technique that includes both detailed realism and expressive brush work.
Over 20% of her past work is now owned by public museums. For information about what may be available from private collections please contact one of our galleries or representatives here.
Biographical references include, North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary, edited by Jules Heller and Nancy G. Heller; Angels A to Z, by James R. Lewis and Evelyn Oliver, 1996. Who’s Who in American Art, (15th and 16th Editions); Who’s Who in the South and Southwest, (17th, 18th, and 19th Editions); Who’s Who of American Women (12th, 13th, and 14th Editions); Dictionary of International Biography, Vol. 16.