Allerley Glossop was born in Twickenham, England,1872. She came to SA in 1900 after the demise of the Sphinx Studio in London, where she had taught. She farmed at Klapmuts, and was described by some journalists as "an English lady who has long resided in the colony and has mingled farming with painting" (SANG Archival news cutting). Before 1925, when she moved to Natal, she was an active SASA member and cut an unconventionial figure. Her painting was relatively academic, but she transgressed societal norms by wearing mens' clothes, a pith helmet, smoking a pipe and by riding alone into remote areas to paint. She worked, so the Press noted, "regardless of public opinion" (SANG Archival news cutting). Known to her closer friends as "Joe", she was a SASA Council' member and kept a studio in Cape Town where Nita Spilhaus, Beatrice Hazell and Ruth Prowse also used to visit and work.
Irowse painted her portrait. Glossop was a prolific artist, always painting pastoral subjects out of doors, prefering for the most part the pinkish tones of sunsets in the Karoo. Her work satisfied a demand for rural scenes and paintings of animals, and she sold well. Journalists of the day acclaimed her as "emphatically one of our national artists", with "her quaint brush and charmingly original way of looking at things" (The Cape Argus, Nov. 1904). Hope was expressed that she would one day become "the Rosa Bonheur of South Africa" (The Cape Argus, 10.11.1906). She died Lion's River, Natal, 1955.
Curriculum Vitae
Exhibitor on SASA-related exhibitions c.1898 - 1950: 1902: SASA/SADC 1 st Annual Edi., Drill Hall, Darling St., 9 Dec. 1903:SASA/SADC 2nd Annual Exh.. Drill Hall, Darling St., I Dec. 1904: SASA Exh. of Pictures, Div. Council Chambers, Greemnarket Sq. 1910: 3rd Annual Exh. of the SAFAA, combined with SASA and SADC, Drill Hall, Darling St., fm. 2 Nov. 1917: SASA Art Exh.,MH, City Hall, Darling St., 7 Feb. 1918: SASA Art Exh., MH, City Hall, Darling St., 6 Feb. 1919: SASA Art Exh., MH, City Hall, Darling St., 6 Feb. 1924: SASA 23rd Annual Exh., Drill Hall, Darling St., 28 Jan. 1935: SASA sect., with NA, 5th Annual Exh. OfContemp. Art, SANG, 18 Dec. - 18 Feb. 1936. 1936: SASA 34th Anniia! Exh., Ashbey'sGall., Church St., 5-11 Aug. 1936: SASA sect., withNA &indep. artists, 6 the Annual Exh, of Contemp. Art, SANG, 17 Dec. - 17 feb. 1937.