The Latest Must-See Exhibition At Tate Britain: Frank Bowling
This summer the Tate Britain is presenting the first major retrospective of work by Frank Bowling. Since the early 1960s, Bowling has explored and expanded the possibilities of paint, influencing generations of artists through his spectacular kaleidoscopic paintings.
This long overdue celebration of Bowling’s work will be the first exhibition to span the full breadth of his practice, bringing together rarely seen works and iconic pieces that highlight the quality and range of the artist’s remarkable six-decade career. We’ve rounded up some of the highlights to enjoy at the exhibition this summer, as well as the facts you may not know about the painter.
“The possibilities of paint are never-ending.” - Frank Bowling
Bartica Born, 1967
Frank Bowling was the first black artist nominated as a Royal Academician
Born in Guyana (then British Guiana) Bowling moved to London in 1953, and while serving in the RAF met Keith Critchlow who introduced him to the London art scene. He went on to study at the Royal College of Art alongside David Hockney and R.B Kitaj and became the first Black artist nominated as a Royal Academician. Living and working between London and New York, he has continuously reinvented painting, fuelled by a knowledge of European tradition and post-war abstraction, and infuses his works with deeply personal narrative.
Bartica Born, 1967
Iona Miriams Christmas Visit To & From Brighton, 2017
He often waits until he finishes his paintings before he gives them titles
The titles of his pieces are often inspired by the places Bowling has been and the people he knows but they are nearly always decided after they are completed. He tries to reconnect with what took place during the creation of each painting, yet they often remain ambiguous, preventing a prescriptive reading of the work.
“It’s like the journey from birth to death. It’s partly to do with that...but the flow of paint is what hooks me. Life is not so straight forward, and happiness involves going with the flow.” - Frank Bowling
Installation Views, Frank Bowling at Tate Britain
Cover Girl, 1966
Bowling struggled to define his identity as an artist in London
Cover Girl (1966) is one of Bowling’s earlier paintings and demonstrates a sense of displacement, as well as the themes and techniques that defined Bowling’s early practice. It is composed of a central figure against the stenciled outline of the artist’s childhood home.
The portrait of a woman in a fashionable Pierre Cardin dress and Vidal Sassoon haircut was drawn directly from the cover of The Observer Magazine and represents the youthful affluence of London in the swinging sixties. Bowling’s memories of Guyana are presented in stark contrast, the image of his former home is faded and dark beneath a looming, clouded sky.
Cover Girl, 1966
Ziff, 1974
The exhibition includes Bowling’s ‘Map Paintings’ and ‘Poured Paintings.’
A real highlight of the show is ten of Bowling’s celebrated ‘Map Paintings’ created during his time in New York in the 1960s. Up to seven meters long, these large scale paintings show expansive fields of colour overlaid with stenciled maps of the world, often re-orientated so that Latin America and Africa dominate the vast canvases. Images of the artist’s mother and children are among those silkscreened onto some of the canvases and the results are complex, layered artworks.
Another room of the exhibition is dedicated to Bowling’s ‘Poured Paintings’ which depict monumental cascades of colour reminiscent of waterfalls or lava flow. Bowling developed a highly sculptural approach to painting and introduced three dimensional objects to the canvas as well as shimmering metallic pigments, chalk and gels to create textured surfaces.
Great Thames IV, 1988-9
Installation View, Frank Bowling at Tate Britain
Ah Susan Whoosh, 1981
His career has lasted for six decades - and counting
At 85 years of age, Bowling still paints every day. His work relies on technical skill while embracing chance and the unpredictable. The final section is dedicated to paintings made over the last decade and despite the fact he is working almost exclusively from a seated position, his need to reinvent painting carries on. His paintings continue to embody an ongoing pursuit of change, transformation and renewal.
Ah Susan Whoosh, 1981
