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  • A Bigger Splash
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Tate Britain Exhibition

Frank Bowling

31 May – 26 August 2019

Free for Members

Frank Bowling Barticaborn I 1967 Lowinger Family Collection © Frank Bowling. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2019​

Frank Bowling’s first major retrospective celebrates an artist who pushes the possibilities of paint

This exhibition offers a chance to experience the entirety of Bowling’s 60-year career. It showcases his sensual use of colour and bold experimentation.

Born in Guyana (then British Guiana) in 1934, at 19 years old Bowling moved to London. He went on to study painting at the Royal College of Art alongside David Hockney and R.B. Kitaj.

After graduating with a silver medal, he spent the next 60 years criss-crossing the Atlantic between studios in London and New York. Maturing into a master of his medium, he developed a visionary approach that fuses abstraction with personal memories. Now 85 he still paints every day, experimenting with new materials and techniques.

The exhibition brings together a lifetime of large-scale artworks. It includes key series such as the iconic 'map paintings', the visually arresting ‘poured paintings’ made by pouring paint down an inclined surface, and the sculptural paintings of the 1980s evoking riverbeds, all the way to mature work selected from a recent period of explosive productivity.​

Tate Britain

Millbank
London SW1P 4RG
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Dates

31 May – 26 August 2019

Tate Britain is open until 22.00 on the first Friday of each month for Late at Tate Britain

Supported by

With additional support from

Tate Americas Foundation

Tate International Council

Tate Patrons

and Tate Members

The Frank Bowling Exhibition Supporters Circle

Miles Gerstein and Susan Davis The Hitchin Family Pamela J Joyner and Alfred J Giuffrida

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A painted plaster lobster in orange, yellow and red lies along the handset cradle of a black vintage rotary-dial telephone; a gold label on the base reads 'Bell Telephone MFG. COMPANY'

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We recommend

watch

Frank Bowling: From figuration to abstraction

Watch the artist reflect on his career and the impact of moving from London to New York

listen

The Art of Improvisation

What happens when we ‘go with the flow’?

read

Awash with the Colour of Life

Matthew Collings

Friend and former student pays homage to the artist that fuses abstraction with personal memories

Who is Frank Bowling?
Find out at Tate Kids
16–25? Join Tate Collective for £5 exhibition tickets
Find out more
watch

Frank Bowling on Mirror 1966

Watch Frank Bowling speak about his painting Mirror 1966

Make an Amazing Messy Painting

Come on a colourful adventure with artist Frank Bowling and make your own awesome art experiments

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Read the exhibition guide
Find out more
A painted plaster lobster in orange, yellow and red lies along the handset cradle of a black vintage rotary-dial telephone; a gold label on the base reads 'Bell Telephone MFG. COMPANY'

Stay in the know

Be among the first to hear about all the latest Tate exhibitions, events, courses, and news

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