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BIOGRAPHY
For over six decades, Frank Bowling has relentlessly pursued a practice which boldly expands the possibilities and properties of paint. Ambitious in scale and scope, his dynamic engagement with the materiality of his chosen medium, and its evolution in the broad sweep of art history, has resulted in paintings of unparalleled originality and power.
Born in British Guiana (now Guyana) in 1934, he arrived in London in 1953, graduating from the Royal College of Art with the silver medal for painting in 1962. By the early 1960s, he was recognized as an assured force in London’s art scene. During this period, his highly individual language of painting, which emerged from expressionistic figuration and pop art, encompassed autobiographical elements and the artist’s socio-political concerns.
Bowling went on to divide his time between the art scenes in London and New York, maintaining studios in both cities. This transatlantic orientation was to see his early engagement with expressive figuration and pop art shift to an immersion in abstraction which continues in his practice today. Visible in his work are the legacies of both the English landscape tradition and American abstraction from which Bowling honed a distinctive vocabulary, combining figurative, abstract and symbolic elements. As Bowling has explained, ‘I was always very conscious of scratching out and of new interpretations replacing the old; updating traditions.’
A major reorientation in Bowling’s practice came in 1966 when he relocated from London to New York, at a time when the artistic scene was divided along lines of formalism and politics. In New York, Bowling pushed his work in new directions. He met Jasper Johns and engaged in dialogue with his contemporaries, such as Jack Whitten, Mel Edwards, Al Loving, and Daniel Johnson. In 1969, Bowling organized, curated, and wrote the catalogue essay for the notable exhibition, ‘5+1’, at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and Princeton University, which showcased the work of five African American abstract artists as well as his own recent paintings. He expressed frustration at the critical invisibility of Black artists and the narrow parameters by which his art and that of his peers was being assessed. Through his writings, as a contributing editor of Arts Magazine (1969-1972), he resisted what he saw as the reductive categorization of ‘Black Art’ as purely political in subject matter, staking a claim for abstraction.
By 1971, Bowling’s visionary approach to painting fused abstraction with personal memories. Concerns of colour, surface and process gained in prominence resulting in his iconic series of ‘Map Paintings’, which include the stencilled landmasses of South America, Africa and Australia and were exhibited that same year at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York Over the years, the points of reference in his work reflect Bowling’s interest in a wide scope of art history, from Constable and Turner to Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko. From 1973 to 1978, Bowling experimented with ideas of chance and ‘controlled accidents’, pouring paint from a two-meter height to create his visually arresting ‘Poured Paintings’, an expansion from colour field painting.
Bowling returned to London in 1975 but continued to spend significant periods in New York. His sculptural paintings of the 1980s include embedded objects and thickly textured canvases, and have been described as evoking landscape, riverbeds and geological strata. Bowling shares Turner and Constable’s preoccupation with light, which is never more evident than in his expansive ‘Great Thames’ paintings of the late 1980s.
Today Bowling’s mastery of the painted medium and explorations of light, colour, and geometry incorporate the use of ammonia and multi-layered washes. His restless reinvention of the painted plane endures in his current bodies of work which continue to break new ground through his use of thick impasto textures, acrylic gels, collage, stitched canvas and metallic and pearlescent pigments. Bowling works every day in his South London studio, accompanied by his wife, Rachel, other family members and friends, forever driven by his fascination with exploring the vast and radiant possibilities of paint.
Bowling returned to London in 1975 but continued to spend significant periods in New York. His sculptural paintings of the 1980s include embedded objects and thickly textured canvases, and have been described as evoking landscape, riverbeds and geologic strata. Visible in his work, are legacies of both the English landscape tradition and American abstraction. Bowling shares Turner and Constable’s preoccupation with light, never more evident than in his dazzling ‘Great Thames’ paintings of the late 1980s. Bowling’s experiments with ammonia, gel, metallic and pearlescent paint create incandescent reactions on the canvas. His recent work encompasses collage, poured paint, stencilling, staining, and stitching canvases, bringing together techniques honed over a lifetime of painting.
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EDUCATION
In 1958, thanks to the encouragement of Carel Weight, Bowling realised his ambition to become an artist. He enrolled first at the City & Guilds of London Art School and then the Royal College of Art in London. In 1960, he spent the autumn term at the Slade School of Art. Bowling studied the art of the past and of his contemporaries, absorbing ideas as he developed his own individual style. By the 1960s, he was among the leading group of painters in London.
- 1958-1959 (1 term) City & Guilds of London Art School, UK
- 1959-1962 Royal College of Art, London, UK
- 1960 (Autumn term) Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK
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SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1962
Image in Revolt, Grabowski Gallery, London, UK
1963
Frank Bowling, Grabowski Gallery, London, UK
1966
Frank Bowling, Terry Dintenfass Gallery, New York, USA
1971
Frank Bowling, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
1973
Frank Bowling Paintings, Noah Goldowsky Gallery, New York, USA
1973-1974
Frank Bowling, Center for Inter-American Relations, New York, USA
1974
Frank Bowling Paintings, Noah Goldowsky Gallery, New York, USA
1975
Frank Bowling, Recent Paintings, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, USA
Frank Bowling, Recent Paintings, William Darby, London, UK
1976
Frank Bowling, Recent Paintings, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, USA
Frank Bowling, Recent Paintings, Watson/de Nagy and Co, Houston, Texas, USA
1977
Frank Bowling: Selected Paintings 1967-77, Acme Gallery, London, UK
Frank Bowling: Recent Paintings, William Darby, London, UK
1979
Frank Bowling, Recent Paintings, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, USA
1980
Frank Bowling, New Paintings, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, USA
1981
Frank Bowling, Shilderijn, Vecu, Antwerp, Belgium
1982
Frank Bowling: Current Paintings, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, USA
1983
Frank Bowling, Recent Paintings, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, USA
1986
Frank Bowling: Paintings 1983-1986, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
Frank Bowling, Recent Paintings, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, USA
1988
Frank Bowling, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, UK; Municipal Art Gallery, Limerick, Ireland; Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland; The Senate House, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
1989
Frank Bowling, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, UK (Part of the Castlefield Gallery tour)
Frank Bowling, Recent Paintings, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, New York, USA
1991-1992
Frank Bowling: Selected Pictures, Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba, New York, USA
1993
Frank Bowling Paintings 1981-1992, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, USA
1993-1994
Frank Bowling Paintings, Heimatmuseum Eckernförde, Eckernförde, Germany
1995
Frank Bowling, The Cut Gallery, London, UK
Frank Bowling: Transitions 1962-1994, A.F.T.U./ Bill Hodges Gallery, New York, USA
1996
Bowling on Through the Century, City Gallery, Leicester, UK
1997
Bowling on Through the Century, Gallery II, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK; De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, UK; South Hill Park, Bracknell, UK; Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, UK; The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, UK
Frank Bowling Paintings, Camille Love Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Frank Bowling, 1997 Contemporary Masters Exhibition, The Skylight Gallery at Restoration Plaza, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Frank Bowling, Christiane Nienaber Gallery, New York, USA
1998-1999
Frank Bowling New Pictures, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, USA
Frank Bowling Paintings, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Detroit, Michigan, USA
1999
New Works by Frank Bowling, UFA Gallery, New York, USA
2000
Frank Bowling, Recent Works, Peg Alston Fine Arts Gallery, New York, USA
Frank Bowling, “Painters Painter”, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan, USA
G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Chicago, USA
2001
Frank Bowling New Pictures, UFA Gallery, New York, USA, Rohde und Nerlich, Berlin, Germany
Catching Up, Georgetown Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA
2002
Peg Alston Fine Arts Gallery, New York, New York, USA
2003
Bending the Grid: Black Identity and Resistance in the Art of Frank Bowling, Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, New Jersey, USA
Frank Bowling: Mapping Time and Space, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Detroit, USA
Frank Bowling: Works from the Studio, Skoto Gallery, New York, USA
2003-2004
Frank Bowling: What’s Underneath, Recent Paintings, Delibar, London, UK
2004
Frank Bowling: 4 Decades with Color, The Phillips Museum of Art, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
Frank Bowling, Recent Paintings, Heidi Cho Gallery, New York, USA
Frank Bowling: Mapping Time and Space, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Chicago, USA
Frank Bowling: From the Studio, Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, USA
2005
Frank Bowling: Full of Light – A Survey Exhibition Featuring Paintings from 1978 to 2004, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Detroit, USA
Frank Bowling, Recent Works, Peg Alston Fine Arts Gallery, New York, USA
2006
Frank Bowling RA: Full of Light, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, New York and Chicago, USA
Frank Bowling RA: Latest Paintings: A Celebration of His Election to the Royal Academy of Arts, Rollo Contemporary Art, London, UK
Frank Bowling: The White Paintings, ArtSway, Sway, Hampshire, UK
2006-2007
Frank’s Colour: Painting by Frank Bowling RA, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
2007
Frank Bowling RA Poured Paintings, Arts Club, London, UK
Frank Bowling Recent Paintings, Peg Alston Fine Arts Gallery, New York, USA
2008
New York Works, Latest Paintings by Frank Bowling RA, ROLLO Contemporary Art, London, UK
Pond Life and Other Paintings: New Work by Frank Bowling, Poussin Gallery, London, UK
Frank Bowling: The Big Paintings, Arts Institute at Bournemouth, The Gallery, Poole, Dorset, UK; University of Wolverhampton, School of Art and Design, Wolverhampton, UK
2009
Frank Bowling OBE RA, Paintings, The Gallery, Winchester Discovery Centre, Hampshire County Council Museums, Winchester, UK
Light and Water: Frank Bowling’s Big Paintings, Clifford Chance exhibition space, London, UK
Zippers: New Works by Frank Bowling RA, ROLLO Contemporary Art, London, UK
2010
Frank Bowling OBE, RA: Paintings 1974–2010, Spanierman Modern, New York, USA
Frank Bowling, New Works, ROLLO Contemporary Art, London, UK
2011
Enter the Dragon – Frank Bowling Large Works from the 1980s, Hales Gallery, London, UK
Frank Bowling RA, Crossings: From New Amsterdam, Berbice, to New Amsterdam, New York via Holland and London, ROLLO Contemporary Art, London, UK
Journeyings: Recent Works on Paper by Frank Bowling RA, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Frank Bowling: Recent Works, ROLLO Contemporary Art, London, UK
2012
Frank Bowling: Recent Paintings, Spanierman Modern, New York, USA
Frank Bowling: Recent Large Paintings, Hales Gallery, London, UK
Frank Bowling OBE, RA: Recent Small Works, Eleven Spitalfields Gallery, London, UK
2012-2013
Drop, Roll, Slide, Drip… Frank Bowling’s Poured Paintings 1973–78, Tate Britain, London, UK
2013
The Map Paintings 1967–1971, Hales Gallery, London, UK
Frank Bowling Paintings 1967–2012, Spanierman Modern, New York, USA
2014
Frank Bowling OBE, RA: At Eighty, Spanierman Modern, New York, USA
2014-2015
Traingone, Paintings by Frank Bowling, 1979–96, Spritmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden
2015
Frank Bowling: Map Paintings, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, USA
Frank Bowling: Right Here. Right Now, Triangle Space and Cookhouse Galleries, Chelsea College of Arts, London, UK
Frank Bowling: The Poured Paintings, Hales Gallery, London, UK
Frank Bowling, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, California, USA
2016
New White Paintings, Hampstead School of Art, London, UK
2017
Frank Bowling: Fishes, Wishes in Summertime Blue, Hales Gallery, London, UK
Metropolitanblooms, Hales Project Room, New York, USA
2017-2018
Mappa Mundi, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
2018
Frank Bowling: Make It New, Alexander Gray Associates, New York, USA
Frank Bowling: Towards the Light, Christian Larsen, Stockholm, Sweden
Mappa Mundi, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
2018-2019
Mappa Mundi, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
2019
Frank Bowling, Tate Britain, London, UK
Frank Bowling: More Land than Landscape, Hales Gallery, London, UK
2020-2021
Flow Pink Over Yellow, Royal Academy of Arts Academician's Room, London2021
Frank Bowling: London/ New York, Hauser & Wirth, London, UK and New York, USA
Frank Bowling: Land of Many Waters, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
2022Penumbral Light, Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland
Frank Bowling: Sculpture, University of Greenwich Galleries, Stephen Lawrence Gallery, London
Frank Bowling’s Americas, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, USA
Frank Bowling: Works on Paper: 2009 – 2021, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, USAFrank Bowling: Wolfgang Hahn Prize, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
2023
Frank Bowling: The New York Years 1966–1975, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
Arrival by Frank Bowling, CIRCA 20:23, London, Piccadilly Lights; Berlin, Limes; Milan, Cadorna Square; Seoul, COEX K-Pop Square; Los Angeles, Courtyard Marriott LA Live; and Tokyo, Shibuya Crossing
Frank Bowling: Landscape, Hauser & Wirth, West Hollywood, USA -
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1960
Young Contemporaries 1960, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK
1962Young Commonwealth Artists, RBA Galleries, London, UK
Young Contemporaries 1962, Arts Council Gallery, Cambridge, UK; Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston Upon Hull, UK; Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, UK; College of Arts and Crafts, Birmingham, UK; Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK.
1963
Frank Bowling, William Thomson, Neil Stocker, Grabowski Gallery, London, UK
1964
Young Commonwealth Artists Group, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
The Shakespeare Exhibition: 1564-1964, Stratford-upon-Avon, Edinburgh, London, UK1966
Commonwealth Festival Exhibition, Nottingham, UK
1967
Maidstone Staff Painting and Sculpture, Alwin Gallery, London, UK
London Group 1967, Royal Institute Galleries, Piccadilly, London, UK
1968
The Obsessive Image 1960-1968, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
1969
5+1, Art Gallery State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York, USA; and The Art Museum, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
1969-1970
John Moores Liverpool Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK
1969 Annual Exhibition: Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, USA
1970
Afro-American Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
1971
Contemporary Black Artists in America, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
Some American History, Institute for the Arts, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA
1972
Two Guyanese Painters: Frank Bowling and Philip Moore, Guyana Consulate, New York, USA
1973
Whitney Biennial 1973: Contemporary American Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
1975
CAPS Painters 1975, Michael C. Rockefeller Arts Center Gallery, Fredonia, New York, USA
1976
The Golden Door: Artist Immigrants of America, 1876–1976, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
1977
Artists’ Maps, Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
British Painting 1952-1977, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
1978
Selected Works from Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
1979
Another Generation, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, USA
Contemporary Caribbean Artists – African Expressions, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, The Bronx, New York, USA
1979-1980
The British Art Show, Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield, UK; Laing Art Gallery Newcastle, UK; Hatton Gallery, Newcastle, UK; Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, UK; Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, UK
1980
Hayward Annual, Hayward Gallery, London, UK
1981
Mapped Art: Charts, Routes, Regions, University of Colorado Art Gallery, Boulder, Colorado, USA; Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
1982
Color, Material, Form: Bowling, Loving, Mohr, The Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire, USA; The Art Center at Hargate, St Paul’s School, Concord, New Hampshire, USA; The Heckscher Museum, Huntington, New York, USA; and Kresge Art Center Gallery, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
Mapped Art: Charts, Routes, Regions, Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA
1982-1983
Mapped Art: Charts, Routes, Regions, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, USA
1986
Caribbean Expressions in Britain, Leicestershire Museum and Art Gallery, New Walk, Leicester, UK; Central Museum and Art Gallery, Guildhall Road, Northampton, UK
1986-1987
Caribbean Expressions in Britain, Cartwright Hall, Lister Park, Bradford, UK
1987
The First America: Selections from the Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Latin American Art: An Exhibition of Works from the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Americas Society / Center for Inter-American Relations, New York, USA; El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, Texas, USA; Boston University Art Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; University Gallery, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
Variations in Matter Painting, Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, USA; Kingsborough Community College Gallery, City University of New York, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
1988
Exhibition Road: Painters at the Royal College of Art, Royal College of Art, London, UK
Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
1988-1989
The Presence of Painting: Aspects of British Abstraction 1957-1988, Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield, UK; Hatton Gallery, Newcastle, UK; Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
1989
Frank Bowling and Dennis de Caires Recent Paintings, The Umana Yana, Georgetown, Guyana
My Generation: 10 Contemporary Abstract Artists, Atkinson Art Gallery, Southport, UK; Skelmersdale Library Art Centre, Skelmersdale, Lancashire, UK
Whitechapel Open: East End Open Studios, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
Recent Painting and Sculpture, The South London Art Gallery, London, UK
1989-1990
The Other Story, Hayward Gallery, London, UK; Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton, UK; Manchester City Art Gallery and Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK
Vintage Abstractions, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, USA
1991
Frank Bowling and Graham Mileson, Painting and Sculpture, Greenwich Citizens Gallery, London, UK; Lanchester Gallery, Coventry Polytechnic, Coventry, UK
The Search for Freedom: African American Abstract Painting 1945–1975, Kenkeleba Gallery, New York, USA; Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland Ohio, USA; State University of New York, New Paltz, New York, USA
Affinities in Paint, Crane Gallery, London, UK
1992
A/Cross Currents: Synthesis in African American Abstract Painting, Dakar Biennale, Dakar, Senegal; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Kenkeleba House, New York, USA
Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Gallery London, UK
Art for A Fairer World, Art Gallery and Museum, Kelvingrove, Glasgow, UK; St David’s Hall, Cardiff, UK
1993
Art for A Fairer World, Smith’s Galleries, London, UK
Landscape as Metaphor: The Transcendental Vision, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg Massachusetts, USA
1994
Landscape as Metaphor: The Transcendental Vision, Newport Art Museum, Newport, Rhode Island, USA; Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine, USA
Dimensions of Guyana, Frank Bowling and Donald Locke, Camille Love Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Frank Bowling and Richard Baye, Skoto Gallery, New York, USA
1995
Frank Bowling, New Small Pictures, Larry Mohr, Recent Sculpture, Skoto Gallery, New York, USA
The Caribbean Connection, Islington Arts Factory, London, UK
Caribbean Visions: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, Florida, USA
1996
Absolut Expressions, Sprit Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
Abstractions, Kenkeleba Gallery, New York, New York, USA
Caribbean Visions: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; African American Museum, Dallas, Texas, USA
1997
Caribbean Visions: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury, Vermont, USA; The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, USA; Smithsonian Institution (Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture; Arts and Industries Building, South Gallery), Washington, DC, USA
1997–98
Space, Time & Object: Black Abstractionists, IRADAC (The Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean), City University of New York, USA
A Year in the Life of Present Modernism, Tribes Gallery, New York, USA
The Skylight Gallery Holiday Exhibition, The Skylight Gallery, New York, USA
1998
The Fanelli Show, OK Harris Gallery, New York, USA
The African-American Fine Arts Collection of the New Jersey State Museum, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey, USA
Caribbean Visions: Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, Florida, USA; Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California, USA
1999
New Works by Frank Bowling, Sculpture by Milton Sherrill, UFA Gallery, New York, USA
Slave Routes: The Long Memory, Kenkeleba Gallery, New York, USA
2000
African American Abstraction, City Gallery East, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Nineteenth and Twentieth Century: African American Art, Kenkeleba Gallery, New York, New York, USA
Absolut Expressions, Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Terminal, New York, USA
2001
Jazz and Visual Improvisations, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York, USA
Take Five, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Forms of Abstraction, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Detroit, Michigan, USA
2002
Tate Unseen: Living Artists from the Tate Storeroom, Tate Britain, London, UK
Six American Masters: Bowling, Carter, Clark, Hutson, Loving, Pindell, Sugar Hill Art Center, New York, New York, USA
No Greater Love, Abstraction, Jack Tilton/Anna Kustera Gallery, New York, New York, USA
Forms of Abstraction III: Abstract Works from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Detroit, Michigan, USA
2003
Fault Lines: Contemporary African Art and Shifting Landscapes, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
London Group, Woodlands Gallery, London, UK
Not Just for Christmas: Visual Art with Life and Soul, Outfitters Gallery, Margate, UK
National Black Fine Art Show, The Puck Building, New York, USA
The Painted Path: Contemporary Abstraction, Broadbent Gallery, London, UK
2004
A Century of African American Art: The Paul R. Jones Collection, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA
Art and the 60s: This Was Tomorrow, Tate Britain, London, UK
Confluence, Pilgrim Gallery, London, UK
AL.LU'SION II, Savacou Gallery, New York, USA
Something to Look Forward to: An Exhibition Featuring Abstract Art by 22 Distinguished Americans of African descent, The Phillips Museum Of Art, Franklin And Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
2005
Something to Look Forward to: An Exhibition Featuring Abstract Art by 22 Distinguished Americans of African descent, The Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, New York, USA
2006
Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964–1980, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, USA
Unstitched, Unbound: Imprints for Change, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York, USA
Something to Look Forward to: An Exhibition Featuring Abstract Art by 22 Distinguished Americans of African descent, The Beach Museum of Art, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA; California African American Museum, Los Angeles, California, USA
2007
25th Anniversary Exhibition: Forms of Abstraction, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, New York, USA; G.R. N’Namdi Gallery Detroit, Michigan, USA; G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Full Circle, Summer Group Show, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Detroit, Michigan, USA
Swinging London, Collection of Grabowski, Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź, Poland
(C)artography: Map-Making as Artform, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland
2008
Something to Look Forward to: An Exhibition Featuring Abstract Art by 22 Distinguished Americans of African descent, Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan, USA; Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, Georgia, USA; HUB- Robeson Galleries, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
2009
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
The Mark of the Hand, Spanierman Modern, New York, USA
Sound: Print: Record: African American Legacies, University Museums, University of Delaware, Mechanical Hall Gallery, Newark, Delaware, USA
British Subjects: Identity & Self-Fashioning 1965-2009, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, Purchase, New York, USA
The London Group Open Exhibition, Menier Gallery, Southwark Street, London, UK
2010
Abstract Relations, University Museums, University of Delaware, Mechanical Hall Gallery, Newark, Delaware, USA; David C. Driskell Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
African American Abstract Masters, Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, New York, USA; Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba, New York, USA; Opalka Gallery, The Sage Colleges, Albany, New York, USA
Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
Poussin Review 2010: New to Sight, Poussin Gallery, London, UK
PINTA: The Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art Show, Earls Court Exhibition
Centre, Brompton Hall, London, UK; Pier 92,, New York, USA
Gallery Selections, Spanierman Modern, New York, USA
August Gallery Selections, Spanierman Modern, New York, USA
2011
Bowling’s Cru, Painters, The Cello Factory, London, UK
Frank Bowling and Graham Mileson Paintings, The Cello Factory, London, UK
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Black, Royal College of Art, London, UK
Contemporary Expressions: Art from the Guyana Diaspora, FiveMyles, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Ten Modern and Contemporary Artists, Spanierman Modern, New York, USA
Abstract Expressionism and its Legacy, Spanierman Modern, New York, USA
NEW: Latest Work by ROLLO Artists, Rollo Contemporary Art, London, UK
2012
Fifteen Contemporary Artists Represented by Spanierman Gallery, Spanierman Gallery, New York, USA
British Design, 1948–2012: Innovation in the Modern Age, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
A Family Affair, The Cello Factory, London, UK
Frank Bowling and Dennis de Caires, University of Glyndwr, Wrexham, UK
Bowling’s Friends, The Cello Factory, London, UK
Migrations: Journeys into British Art, Tate Britain, London, UK
New Possibilities: Abstract Paintings from the Seventies, The Piper Gallery, London, UK
Solomon. Boxer. Bowling. Syd Solomon, Stanley Boxer and Frank Bowling, Spanierman Modern, New York, USA
Summer Selections, Spanierman Modern, New York, USA
Caribbean: Crossroads of the World, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, New York, USA
The Perfect Place to Grow: 175 Years of the Royal College of Art, Royal College of Art, London, UK2013
Grit to Gold: Collaging the Abstract, Frank Bowling OBE RA, John Bunker, Scott O’Rourke, Standpoint Gallery, London, UK
BP Walk through British Art, Tate Gallery, London, UK
Frank Bowling and his Invited Artists, The Cello Factory, London, UK
The London Group Centenary Exhibition, Pitzhanger Manor, London, UK
2014
Caribbean: Crossroads of the World, Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), Miami, Florida, USA
I Cheer a Dead Man’s Sweetheart, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, UK
Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, USA
The London Group on London, The Cello Factory, London, UK
2015
Pretty Raw: After and Around Helen Frankenthaler, The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA
A Marriage of Styles: Pop to Abstraction, Mascalls Gallery, Paddock Wood, Kent, UK
Affecting Presence and the Pursuit of Delicious Experiences, The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, USA
2016
Land, Sea and Air, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, UK
EXHBIT No Colour Black, Guildhall Art Gallery, London, UK2016-2017
Circa 1970, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, USA
Postwar: Art Between the Pacific and Atlantic, 1945–1965, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
2017
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, Tate Modern, London, UK
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Thinking Out Loud: Notes for an Evolving Collection, The Warehouse, Dallas, Texas, USA
Impulse!, Pace, London, UK
2017-2018
Looking Anew: Art and Estrangement, 1900—2000, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, USA
2018
From Color & Form to Expression & Response: Abstract Art at University of Delaware, University Museums, University of Delaware, Mechanical Hall Gallery, Newark, Delaware, USA
250th Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, USA
2018-2019
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, USA
2018-2020
Epic Abstraction: Pollock to Herrera, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
2019
The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, USA
From Dürer to Digital and 3-D: The Metamorphosis of the Printed Image, Trenton City Museum, Trenton, New Jersey, USA
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, The Broad, Los Angeles, California, USA
Spilling Over: Painting Color in the 1960s, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, California, USA; Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina, USA; Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
2019-2020
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, The de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), San Francisco, California, USA
The Shape of Abstraction: Selections from the Ollie Collection, Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis Missouri, USA
Mapping Black Identities, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; February 2019 – September 2020
Desire: A Revision From the 20th Century to the Digital Age, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland; September 2019 – March 2020
2020
RELATIONS: Diaspora and Painting, Phi Foundation for Contemporary Art (Fondation Phi pour l’art contemporain), Montreal, Canada
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Houston, Texas, USA
Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts, USA; Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, USA; Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Frank Bowling, Ed Clark and Sam Gilliam: Color and Shape, Barbara Mathes Gallery, Upper East Side, New York, USA; October 2020- January 2021
2021
RWA Annual Open Exhibition 168, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, UK; 2021
Modal Painting; Maximillian William, London, UK; March – April 2021
Creating Community. Cinque Gallery Artists, Art Students League of New York, Midtown, New York, USA; May – July 2021
Fragments of Epic Memory, Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario, Canada; September 2021 – February 2022
British Art Collection of the CAM, Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, Cascais, Portugal, October 2021 – January 2022.Painting Is…A group exhibition of abstract painting, Larsen Warner, Stockholm, Sweden October 2021 – November 2021
RA Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London, UK; September 2021 – January 2022
Exploration in Paint, Royal Academy Collection Room, London, UK; September 2021 – September 2022
Seven Part 2, Newington Art Academy, London, UK; September 2021
Afro-Atlantic Histories, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA; October 2021 – January 2022
Breathing one’s breath, Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles, France; November 2021 – May 2022
Tree and Leaf, Hannah Barry Gallery, London; November 2021 – January 2022Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950’s – Now, Tate Britain, London, touring exh.: Tate Britain, London, December 2021 – April 2022; Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada, 6 December 2023 – 1 April 2024
Grayson Perry Art Club 2, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol, UK; December 2021 – September 2022
Slip Zone: A New Look at Postwar Abstraction in the Americas and East Asia, Dallas Museum of Art, 14 September 2021 – 10 July 2022
2022
Afro-Atlantic Histories, Dallas Museum of Art, October 2021 – February 2022; National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA; April 2022 – July 2022; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 2022 – April 2023
Post-war Modern: New Art in Britain: 1945-65, Barbican Centre, London; March 2022 – May 2022
The Soul as Sphere, Maximillian William, London; March 2022 – April 2022Spirit Matter, Alex Vardaxoglou, London; April 2022 – May 2022
Competere: An Exhibition of Artist Couples, Bo Bartlett Centre, Columbus; 8 April 2022 – 17 June 2022
Summer Exhibition 2022, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK; 21 June – 21 August 2022
Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s – Today, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, USA; 19 November 2022 – 23 April 2023; Institute of Contemporary Art/ Boston, 5 October 2023 – 24 February 2024; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, 6 April – 8 July 2024.Revisiting 5+1, Stony Brook University, Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery, New York, USA; 10 November 2022 – 23 February 2023
Lucian Freud and The Soul as Sphere, The Lightbox, Woking, 26 November 2022 – 19 March 20232023
Avant L’Orage, Bourse de Commerce, Paris, 8 February – 2 September 2023
Instant Loveland, Thames Side Studios Gallery, 25 February 2023 – 12 March 2023
Explorations in Paint Exhibition, Petworth House, National Trust, 6 March 2023 – 24 September 2023Modern British and Contemporary, The Nine British Art Gallery, London; 20 April – 12 May 2023
Escape, Hauser & Wirth, Southampton, USA, 27 May – 25 June 2023
To Bend the Ear of the Outer World: Conversations on contemporary abstract painting, Gagosian, London, 1 June – 25 August 25 2023
Ecstatic: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA; 10 June 2023 – 27 August 2023
Suncrush, Greene Naftali, New York, USA; 28 June – 28 July 2023
Fabric Works, Hauser & Wirth, St. Moritz, Switzerland; 8 July – 9 September 2023170 RWA Annual Open Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, UK; 8 September 2023 –14 January 2024
Like Paradise, Claridges ArtSpace, London; 4 October – November 2023
London Group Open, Coleman Gallery; London; 9 – 26 November 2023
Glory of the World: Color Field Painting (1950s to 1983), NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, 21 November 2023 – 30 June 2024
2024Entangled Pasts, 1768 – now. Art, Colonialism and Change, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 3 February – 28 April
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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alloway, Lawrence, Hunter, Sam and Bowling, Frank, 5+1, exh. cat., State University of New York at Stony Brook, New York, 1969 Frank Bowling, paintings, 1983-1986, exh. cat., Serpentine Gallery, London, 1986
Chambers, Eddie. Black Artists in British Art: A History from 1950 to the Present, London: I.B.Tauris & Co., 2014
Choudhury, Indie A. "Frank Bowling's White Paintings." Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, Issue 45 (2019): 34-47
Cornish, Sam. Frank Bowling: Sculpture, Ridinghouse: London, 2022
Crippa, Elena, ed. Frank Bowling, exh. cat., London: Tate Publishing, 2019
Enwezor, Okwui. Frank Bowling: Mappa Mundi, exh. cat., Munich: Haus der Kunst; London and New York: Prestel, 2017
Godfrey, Mark and Whitley, Zoe. Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, exh. cat., London: Tate Publishing, 2017
Gooding, Mel. Frank Bowling, London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2011 (2nd edition, 2015; 3rd edition, 2021)
Gooding, Mel and Whitley, Zoe. Frank Bowling: Traingone, exh. cat., Stockholm: Art and Theory Publishing, 2014
Hoyland, John and Hilton, Tim. Hayward Annual, exh. cat., London: Hayward Gallery; Arts Council of Great Britain, 1980
Hunter, Jim. Frank Bowling at Eighty, exh. cat., New York: Spanierman Modern, 2014
Image in Revolt, exh. cat., London: Grabowski Gallery, 1962
Martin, Courtney J. Frank Bowling: The Poured Paintings, exh. cat., London: Hales Gallery, 2015
Mercer, Kobena. 'Black Atlantic Abstraction: Aubrey Williams and Frank Bowling', Discrepant Abstraction, Cambridge and London: MIT Press and INIVA, 2006, pp. 182-205
Mercer, Kobena. 'Frank Bowling's Map Paintings', Fault Lines: Contemporary African Art and Shifting Landscapes, exh. cat., Venice Biennale, 2003, pp. 139-149
Richards, Spencer A. and Bowling, Frank. Frank Bowling: 4 Decades with Color, exh. cat., Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Phillips Museum of Art, Franklin & Marshall College, 2004
Richards, Spencer A. Frank Bowling RA: Full of Light, exh. cat., Chicago, Detroit, New York: G.R. N'Namdi Gallery, 2006
Robertson, Bryan, Russell, John and Snowdon, Lord. Private View: The Lively World of British Art, London: Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd, 1965
Thüring, Reto and Tommasino, Akili. Frank Bowling's Americas New York, 1966-75, exh. cat., Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2022 -
SELECTED WRITINGS
‘Review of Two Books on African Art’, Arts Magazine, December 1968 – January 1969 ‘Letter from London: Caro at The Hayward’, Arts Magazine, vol. 43, no.5, March 1969, p. 20
'Discussion on Black Art I', Arts Magazine, vol. 43, no. 6, April 1969, pp. 16-20
‘De Stijl and After’, Arts Magazine, vol. 43, no.6, April 1969, p. 14
'Discussion on Black Art II', Arts Magazine, vol. 43, no. 7, May 1969, pp. 20-23
‘A Shift in Perspective', Arts Magazine, vol. 43, no. 8, Summer 1969, pp. 24-27
‘X to the Fourth Power’, Arts Magazine, September – October 1969
'Notes from a Work in Progress', 5+1, New York: State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1969
‘Discussion on Black Art III’, Arts Magazine, vol. 44, no.3, December 1969-January 1970, pp. 20-2
‘Joe Overstreet exhibition at The Studio Museum in Harlem 1969/70’, Arts Magazine, vol. 44, no.3, December 1969 – January 1970, p. 55
‘The Rupture: Ancestor Worship, Revival, Confusion or Disguise?’, Arts Magazine, vol. 44, no. 8, Summer 1970, pp. 31-4
‘Silence: People Die Crying When They Should Love’, Arts Magazine, vol. 45, no. 1, September-October 1970, pp. 31-2
‘Outside the Galleries: Four Artists’, Arts Magazine, vol. 45, no. 2, November 1970, pp. 30-1
‘Another Map Problem’, Arts Magazine, vol. 45, no. 3, December 1970 – January 1971, pp. 27-9
‘Structure of Color at the Whitney’, Arts Magazine, vol. 45, no. 6, April 1971, p. 79.
‘It’s Not Enough To Say “Black is Beautiful”’, Arts Magazine, April 1971
‘Fluid Structures’, Arts Magazine, vol. 46, no. 1, September – October 1971, pp. 30-3
'Is Black Art About Color?', in Rhoda Goldstein, Rhoda Lois Blumberg, Black Life and Culture in the United States, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co, 1971, pp. 302-21
‘Revisions. Color and Recent Paintings, Part 2’, Arts Magazine, vol. 46, no. 5, March 1972, pp. 47-50 / no. 4, February 1972, pp. 45-50
‘Problems of Criticism I-II-III-IV-V-VI’, Arts Magazine, vol. 46, no. 7, May 1972, pp. 34-8
‘New York Classicism’, Arts Magazine, December 1972 – January 1973, pp. 63-5
‘A Modest Proposal’, Arts Magazine, vol. 47, no. 4, February 1973, pp. 55-9
‘Formalism, A Selective View', Cover, no. 6, Winter 1981, pp. 38-41
‘Formalist Art and the Black Experience', Third Text, vol. 2, issue 5, Winter 1988, pp. 78-82
'Some Notes Toward an Exhibition of African-American Abstract Art', The Search for Freedom. African American Abstract Painting 1945-1975, New York: Kenkeleba Gallery, 1991, pp.125-8
‘Postscript’, The Dub Factor: Sylbert Bolton, Anthony Daley and David Somerville, edited by Eddie Chambers. London: Tribe Design, 1992
‘Artist Frank Bowling on How he Paints’, The Guardian, 20 September 2009
'Where I Work. Artist Frank Bowling', The Guardian, 7 February 2015 -
TEACHING
1984Artist in Residence, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine, USA
1975-86Tutor, Byam Shaw School of Art, London, UK1975-76Lecturer, School of Visual Arts, New York, USA1974-75Artist in Residence, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, USA1969-71Assistant Professor, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, USA1969-70Assistant Professor, Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA1968-69Instructor, Columbia University, New York, USA1964-66Lecturer, Reading University, Reading, UK1963-83Tutor, Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, London, UK -
AWARDS AND HONOURS
2021Wolfgang Hahn Prize, Germany
2020
Knight Bachelor. Services to Art, UKHonorary Doctorate, The Royal College of Art, London, UK
2019
Artist of the year award, Apollo magazine, UK
2018
Critics’ Circle Visual Arts and Architecture Award, London, UK
2014
Honorary Fellow, University of the Arts London, UK
2011
Monograph, Frank Bowling, by Mel Gooding published by the Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
2008
OBE: Order of the British Empire. Painter and writer and Services to Art, UK
2007
Honorary Doctorate, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, UK
2006
Honorary Fellow, The Arts Institute at Bournemouth, Bournemouth, UK
2005
Member Royal Academy of Art, London, UK
1998
Pollock Krasner Award, New York, New York, USA
1996
Absolut Bowling, Absolut Vodka Commission, Stockholm, Sweden
1992
Pollock Krasner Award, New York, New York, USA
1977
Arts Council of Great Britain Award, UK
1975
New York State CAPS Award, Fredonia, New York, USA
1973
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, New York, New York, USA
1972
Visiting Artists Program, New York State Council of the Arts, New York, New York, USA
1968–9
Artist in Residence, New York State Council of the Arts, Critics Choice Program, New York, New York, USA
1967
Painting Prize, Edinburgh Open 100, Edinburgh, UK
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, New York, New York, USA
1966
First World Festival of Negro Art, Dakar, Senegal - Grand Prize for Contemporary Art
1964
Shakespeare Quarto-Centenary, Stratford-on-Avon, UK
1963
Calouste-Gulbenkian Foundation, Painting Purchase Award, London UK
1962
Associate of the Royal College of Art [MFA], London, UK
Royal College of Art, Silver Medal, London, UK -
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Arts Council of Great Britain, London, UKBoca Raton Museum, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, USA
de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California, USA
Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
Franklin and Marshall College, The Phillips Museum of Art, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
Glenstone, Potomac, Maryland, USAGuyana National Collection, Castellani House, Georgetown, Guyana
Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, UK
Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, New York, USA
Kresge Art Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
London Lighthouse, London, UK
Menil Foundation, Houston, Texas, USA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Museum Sztuki, Łódź, Poland
Museum of Modern Art, New York, USANational Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica
National Museum Wales, Cardiff, UK
575 Wandsworth Road, National Trust, London, UK
New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey, USA
Neuberger Museum of Art, State University of New York, Purchase, New York, USA
Pinault Collection, Bourse de Commerce, Paris, FranceRhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Royal College of Art, London, UK
Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California, USA
Tate Gallery, London, UK
University of Delaware, 'The Paul R Jones Collection', Newark, Delaware, USA
University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA