Guy Gladwell was born in Nairobi, Kenya. He started his artistic training in Jersey under the celebrated impressionist Sir Francis Barry. Gladwell’s work first gained acclaim after exhibiting at the the Nicholas Treadwell Gallery, London from 1969 onwads. The artist enjoyed a long relationship with the gallery, through which he exhibited mostly seascape paintings before making a move towards portraiture in the 1980s. Gladwell received commissions to paint notable figures, such as Michael Caine and Paul Simon. As payment for capturing the likeness of Simon, the artist enjoyed a private performance of the famed song ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water.’

Gladwell exhibited widely throughout Europe and America. His work gained notice through his numerous exhibitions, and the artist was quickly established alongside such artists as David Hockney and Keith Proctor. In the 1990s, after decades of fast-paced fame, the artist became inspired by the quiet landscape of the Suffolk countryside, which formed the basis of one of his last significant solo exhibitions at the Snape Maltings, Suffolk.