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Home , Frank Bowling, John Hoyland, Patrick Caulfield, Royal Academy of Arts, Tate Britain

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AWASH WITH THE COLOUR OF LIFE

Frank Bowling at

Matthew Collings | Summer 2019

The -born British artist studied alongside and RB Kitaj in the early 1960s, before making a name for himself in New York as both a painter and art critic. Now based in , continues his visionary approach that fuses abstraction with personal memories. Ahead of his retrospective exhibition, a friend and former student pays homage to the artist who has spent a lifetime pushing the possibilities of paint

had Frank Bowling (b1934) in mind whenI came up with time I'd seen it since that afternoon at the Academy 40 years an almost monochrome painting in my last year at the before, I foundit to be incredibly subtle - a representation of i Byam Shaw , where he was my tutor. WhenI first trees and chickens, half its entire surface is loping, loose, hori­ worked on the picture it was of a naked woman in a sort of zontal washy strokes, practically abstract. Frank had pointed flatspace, which, after a few weeks, wouldn't stop look­ out the picture's sophistication, but I'd inwardly rolled my ing awkward. In an attempt to revise it, I painted over much of eyes, thinking it must be the work of a loser because it was it with white, quickly washing and knifingon the paint, think­ merely a little yellow ochre landscape. ing I was about to redo the nude. But then I noticed a lot of I recount this discussion about work by artists other than elegant balances. It was a white abstract now. I didn't know Frank, because he imparted to me an important lesson that whatI'd done, but I thought: Well, this could be a painting ifI took a while to absorb: that a painting has a formator a layout think of some of the things Frank has said in tutorials. for a reason. It's what you see first and it's what causes the The task of a tutor in those days was to pay occasional work to have, or fail to have, visual strength. I think of him visits to students in their individual cubicles in the art school whenI think about composition and the overall logic and read­ and improvise some helpful brief analysis. Once, we decided ability of a painting, whether abstract or figurative. You can to do the tutorial in an exhibition instead, a survey of post-war overlook it because you're not mentally prepared, or you can British art at the Royal Academy that included one of Frank's open up to it. paintings. After pints of Guinness forlunch we got the number At the exhibition we had looked at his painting Mirror 14 bus fromFulham Broadway to and, once in the 1964-6, completed when he was 30, five years beforehe was show, he talked about qualities of surface, mark-making and awarded a solo show at the Whitney Museum in New York. On pictorial organisation in paintings by figures who seemed the way out of the show, he was dismayed not to findany pub­ awfully unglamorous to me. And, conversely, the ones I licity material in the lobby about his own career, where there thought were great and wanted to emulate, he analysed with was plenty relating to the other artists represented. His feel­ a cool objectivity.I was interested in a painting in the display ings were hurt, andI thought of the advice he often gave about by RB Kitaj, showing David Hockney as Superman. Frank toughness, both visual (how paintings work) and emotional pointed out the way free-flowing paint was manipulated to (how a painter copes with worldliness). You had to make your create a particular border between a space and an object: the work but also a career, treading these parallel paths with care. contour of Superman's knee. I soon became aware of the role adversity had played One painting was by the Royal Academician, Robert throughout practically the whole of his 60-year (so far) career, Buhler, who had taught Frank at the . purely because of his skin colour. But I was also impressed by When I saw it again recently in a photograph online, the first his particular morality. He is true to himself when he paints, Frank Bowling Mirror 1964-6, oil paint on canvas, 310 x 216.8 cm

Frank Bowling Frank Bowling

Raining Down South Towards Crab Island 1968, acrylic paint and 1983, acrylic paint, spray paint on canvas, acrylic gel, acrylic foam 348.5 x 275.5 cm and other materials on canvas, 175.3 x 289.6 cm

but he doesn't convey egotism: he is thoughtful. He works by anchored off the coast of the Belgian Congo,firing cannon shot spontaneous improvisation but never makes a painting that into the bush everyday,just out of random colonialist sadism. is only a spectacle or a provocation. He thinks about painterly Why do I remember this? Conrad's book epitomising coloni­ structures every moment of the day. He actually wakes up alism as horror obviously has a loaded meaning for an artist thinking about them. who has experienced racism as Frank has. On the other hand, Ifl think of a paintinglike TowardsCrah Island 1983 I see he often feels suffocated by his background,dismayed that the the work of a painters' painter. The concept of a painters' painter art world might think only about his skin-tone. He says is that some painters are appreciated by other painters because Guyana for him sometimes feels like the heavy rock Sisyphus they, in particular, expose painterly operations: they make the is doomed to be forever rolling up a hill. medium into a subject. The wider public is quite understandably Contradictory as it might sound,I think that much of his not so interested in technique,and more used to looking for what painting sensibility is very English. He might rightly be con­ the technique is in aid of: the meaning or the story: Frank pushes sidered international or or global, or even a New meanings and stories away, essentially, but brings them back in, York artist; he is all these. But it was in an English context as hints, in his titles. Crab Island is known to him from his that he was firstformed artistically. He went to London art Guyanese background. He didn't set out to paint it, but it schools and the first serious art he saw was in London's seemed vividly there once the painting was done. . When we think we see abstract expression­ The painting was done in the year I lent him Heart of ism in his paintings because they are large-scale, brightly Darkness, having just read it. We were each equally awed by coloured and mostly freeof representation,we're really seeing the amazing scene Joseph Conrad describes of a man-of-war two traditions. These are the broad,stark improvisations and 1962 1965 Frank Bowling Chronology c Compiled by Laura Castagnini Eldest son Dan is born to Paddy On an extended visit to New Kitchen; second son Benjamin York, Larry Rivers and critic .'J is born to Claire Spencer; and Frank O'Hara see graduates from the RCA with his work and encourage him a thesis on Piet Mondrian and to leave London for New York ;; is awarded the silver medal for painting (Hockney is awarded 1966 the gold medal); offered a trav- Relocates to New York and elling scholarship to Rome, lives at the but he requests to travel to before moving to his first studio .E. Barbados, Trinidad and Guyana, on Beekman Street; Bowling i which becomes his first trip is persuaded by Roland Penrose l home in almost a decade; his to represent Britain at the First 1 first major exhibition, Image World Festival of Negro Arts � in Revolt, is held at Grabowski in Dakar, Senegal, where he Gallery in London (with Boshier), is awarded the grand prize for l from which Birthday1961 is pur- contemporary art (painting); .£ chased by the Arts Council; sets marriage to Paddy Kitchen ends up a discussion group on colour with chemist Paul Harrison, 1967 i architect Jeremy Thomas and Awarded the Guggenheim i sculptor Jerry Pethick; meets Fellowship and moves to a stu- I American painter Larry Rivers, dio in , New York, where i who becomes a long-term he lives and works until 1975; friend and mentor experiments with thin acrylic washes to 'flood the canvas 1963 with colour'; Bowling is taught � Joins Camberwell School of Art by Rivers to make stencils of and Crafts as a part-time tutor, maps using an overhead projec- where he creates silkscreen tor, which he uses to create 1934 1958 f images on canvas of 'Bowling's his 'map paintings' ! Richard Sheridan Franklin Attends Variety Store' for use in later Bowling (Frank Bowling) is Polytechnic, Chelsea School paintings; joins the London 1968 0! born on 26 February in Bartica, of Art and later City and Guilds Group under the presidency Visits New Amsterdam with j Guyana (then British Guiana), School, London in 1959; Bowling of Claude Rogers, and in 1967 photographer Tina Tranter, the eldest son to Richard is encouraged and supported is elected Vice-President where they document people Sheridan Bowling, a police pay­ by , then head of and places of personal signifi- master, and Agatha Elizabeth painting at the RCA u 1964 cance; Bowling creates stencils ifC < Franklin Bowling, a dress-maker �£ Third son Sacha is born to Irena from these to use in his work _§ � 1959 3:':. Bowling (then Delderfield; ,ji C 1940 Awarded scholarship to the married in 1969); visits New �£ Moves to New Amsterdam, RCA's Painting School, where York, where he stays at the 11 Guyana, where Bowling's his student cohort includes i! Hotel Chelsea and meets Jasper c,2 mother builds a house and David Hockney, RB Kitaj, Derek sc Johns; back in London, begins lt runs 'Bowling's Variety Store' Boshier, Barrie Bates (later Billy making acrylic paintings -E � Apple) and ; using photographic sources g:§ joins an exhibition society and explores the theme of the �i called the 'Young Commonwealth dying swan; begins his major ��"' Artists' Group' (YCAG) . work Mirror1964-6, now in �! Tate's collection 1960 1969 ��ii Marries writer Paddy Kitchen; Curates 5+1, an exhibition of �! transfers to the Slade School five leading African American ]§ 2--!: of Fine Art, University College abstract artists (Melvin London for one term Edwards, Al Loving, Jack i! 1953 Whitten, Daniel Johnson and Bowling moves to London to 1961 William T Williams) plus Bowling Hg � complete his education; serves Returns to the RCA, where himself, at the invitation of t.� in the until 1955 his student work is inspired Lawrence Alloway and Sam �]0-:; by Francis Bacon; first vis- Hunter; Bowling participates 1956-7 its New York, where he sees in the Whitney Annual for the nQ g Lives an itinerant lifestyle and work by , first time; works as a journalist �ii :;?: is introduced to the London art Willem de Kooning, Clyfford and contributing editor for ��.!!?-€ scene by , then Still and , Arts Magazine, New York, until � .f � 1 studying at the Royal College and meets Franz Kline; exhib­ 1972, during a period of intense ;;a: of Art (RCA); writes poems and its two paintings in the Young debate around issues of 'Black f] considers a career as a writer Contemporaries touring show Art' in New York �{� � 1979 2003 Participates in several group Exhibits a selection of 'map exhibitions in the UK and USA, paintings' in the group exhibi­ including the touring British Art tion Fault Lines: Contemporary Show and Another Generation African Art and Shifting at The Studio Museum in Landscapes at Venice Biennale Harlem, New York 2004 1980 Exhibits Who's Afraid of Barney Exhibits four paintings in 1989 Newman 1968 in Art & the the Hayward Annual, curated Initially sceptical about being 60s: This Was Tomorrow by artist with a categorised as an 'Afro-Asian' at Tate Britain; the painting focus on British abstract painting artist, Bowling is eventually is subsequently gifted to Tate persuaded to participate in The 1982 Other Story: Afro-Asian Artists 2005 1971 Begins to incorporate three­ in Post-War Britain at the Bowling becomes the first Black First solo museum exhibition dimensional materials into his by the curator, artist to be elected to the Royal at the Whitney Museum of paintings, such as acrylic foam artist Rasheed Araeen; follow­ Academy of Arts, London American Art, where he shows and cardboard, to create heavily ing his mother's death in 1988, six large 'map paintings'; also textured surfaces - as seen Bowling visits Guyana for the 2006 exhibits in the group shows in works like Towards Crab first time in many years, accom­ Participates in the group exhi­ Contemporary Black Artists /s/and1983 panied by his son Sacha, and bition Energy/Experimentation: in America and the Whitney makes a connection between Black Artists and Abstraction Annual; art critic Clement 1983 the light in his paintings and 1964-1980 at the Studio Greenberg visits Bowling's Moves to a flat in , near the haze of Guyana - a moment Museum in Harlem, New York studio, marking the beginning Tate Britain, where he still lives referred to in the painting Sacha of a long friendship and cor­ Jason Guyana Dreams 1989, 2008 respondence; his work moves 1984 now also in Tate's collection Appointed Officer of the Order towards pure abstraction; Takes his first studio in a of the British Empire (OBE) exhibits Middle Passage 1970 complex in south London; 1990 in Some American History at he occupies various studios Takes a loft studio in Dumbo, 2010 the Institute for the Arts, Rice there over the next three Brooklyn and splits his time Participates in the group exhi­ University, Houston, a bold exhi­ decades, until the present day almost equally between London bition Afro Modern: Journeys bition conceived by Larry Rivers and New York, until 2008 through the Black Atlantic about slavery and the Black 1986 at experience in America, which Frank Bowling Paintings 1983- 1993 drew some criticism because it 86 is held at the Serpentine Makes first trip to Africa to 2011 was organised by a white artist Gallery, London, where he attend A/Cross Currents: First monograph on Frank shows a number of large paint­ Synthesis in African American Bowling's work, written by Mel 1973 ings; rents a studio on Cable Abstract Painting, part of Dakar Gooding, is published by the Begins his 'poured paintings', Street, London, with a glimpse 1992-3: Biennale Internationale building a tilting platform of the , where des Arts, Senegal; receives that enables him to pour paint he creates many large works, his first Pollock-Krasner Award 2012 directly on to the canvas from including the Great Thames (his second is awarded in 1998) The display Drop, Roll, Slide, heights of up to two metres; series 1989 Drip... Frank Bowling's Poured marriage to Irena Bowling 1996-7 Paintings 1973-8 is shown comes to an end Frank Bowling: Bowling on at Tate Britain at theSerpe �!!!{i through the Century, an exhibi­ 1975 tion of paintings from the 2015 t: Spends most of his time in 0 1980s and 1990s organised The solo exhibition Traingone - London to be with his three sons, by Eddie Chambers, tours to Paintings by Frank until 1990; regularly visits Tate 1-·-"-·"" Leicester, Bradford, Bexhill­ Bowling 1979-96 is held as well as the National Gallery on-Sea, Bracknell, Birmingham at Spritmuseum, Stockholm to look at paintings by Turner, and Coventry Gainsborough and Constable; 2017 teaches at Camberwell School Frank Bowling: Mappa Mundi, of Art and Byam Shaw School curated by Okwui Enwezor cov­ of Art, until 1982 ering work from 1967 to 1989, is held at Haus der Kunst, ; 1977 shows 'map paintings' in Sou/ of Receives the Arts Council of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Great Britain Award; brief mar­ Power at riage to Jean Askew; reconnects with artist Rachel Scott (nee 1987 2019 Tripp), whom he met when they Tate acquires Spreadout Ron 2001 Frank Bowling, the first exhi­ studied together at the RCA, Kitaj1984-6, its first purchase Death of his eldest son, Dan; bition to cover the entiroty of Bowling's 60-year career, opens and she becomes his life partner of a painting by an artist of Afro­ Bowling paints a series of (they marryin 2013) Caribbean descent 'white paintings' as a memorial at Tate Britain Frank Bowling 1975, Tony's Anvil acrylic paint on canvas,173 x 107 cm ' •

Frank Bowling Iona Miriam's Christmas Visit To & From Brighton 2014, acrylic paint and plastic objects on canvas, 189 x 122.5 cm

inventions of Barnett Newman and ; and the Regardless of picturing things or not picturing, Towards depths and transparencies - subtle mists and vagueness riding Crab Island expresses what life has been like forits author. on submerged geometric structures - of the English landscape It suggests islands and water and mists, but it is also simply tradition, from Gainsborough to Turner. colour organised in a visual system that answers only He paints from a spirit of pleasure alongside one of to itself. He arrives unexpectedly at the visual equivalent of enquiry, and gives both a context of toughness. He takes wild a novel or even a political tract through the richness of a risks and fights his own abilities, so when he gets to a visual treated canvas surface. balance within a painting there is a surprise. Towards Crab Island has life's unexpected dynamism even though nothing Frank Bowling, Tate Britain, 31 May - 26 August, curated by Elena Crippa, Curator, Modern and Contemporary British Art, Tate Britain with Laura is actually pictured. We see movements and atmospheres. Castagnini, Assistant Curator, Modern and Contemporary British Art, Tate Terrains. Gushes of energy. We enjoy light-filled pouring Britain. Supported by AGC Equity Partners, with additional support from the Frank Bowling Exhibition Supporters Circle, Tate Americas Foundation, Tate torrents, strange barriers and boundaries; strange because International Council, Tate Patrons and Tate Members. the whole point was to make something surprising, non­ Matthew Collings is an art critic, artist, writer and broadcaster. He is currently planned, using bizarre methods. Pouring; sticking things in; writing a book on contemporary painting for Thames & Hudson. following the movement of the material that might be lique­ fied, thick, viscous, trickling or heaving.