Autumn Newsletter 2025
Frank Bowling's autumn update.
News
Frank's work returns to South America. Frank's presentation of 25 works at the 36th Bienal de São Paulo, curated by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, marks an important moment as he tells the studio: "São Paulo was just a sort of magical place that I had always dreamed of visiting." His works have been celebrated across international press.
Launch of new online resources. The studio has launched two additions to the website: Mapping Frank Bowling, a freely available digital catalogue raisonné featuring 70 works from 1961 to the present, and Chronology, a new illustrated timeline supporting curators, researchers, and students in deepening their understanding of Frank's work.
Education outreach goes global. Goldsmiths PGCE Art and Design students took part in a workshop exploring how Frank's work can be brought into the classroom, while the studio team collaborated with the Bienal education team on artwork tours for university students.
Also new and coming up. Tate's signed limited edition book is available for purchase, with 200 signed copies, alongside an expanded print run of the museum's 2019 exhibition book. For those attending Frieze Masters, Frank's work will be on display with Hauser & Wirth at booth D01 from Wednesday 15 to Sunday 19 October.
Exhibitions
36th Bienal de São Paulo
Frank is exhibiting 25 paintings spanning 50 years of his career at the 36th Bienal de São Paulo. Curated by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, this edition is entitled Not All Travellers Walk Roads - Of Humanity as Practice. Open until 11 January 2026.
Works on Paper: 2020 - 2023
Marc Selwyn Fine Art is showcasing its fourth exhibition dedicated to Frank, featuring 30 recent paintings on paper exploring water, colour, and abstraction. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with an essay by Sarah Roberts. Open until 25 October 2025.
THINGS WHICH ARE PER SE CONTINUOUS
This exhibition celebrates major recent donations to the National Gallery of Canada by Winnipeg collector and philanthropist Michael Nesbitt. It combines paintings, sculptures, and mixed media works with icons from the permanent collection. Open until 14 December 2025.
Photography and the Black Arts Movement: 1955-85
The first exhibition to examine how photography shaped a cultural and aesthetic movement celebrating Black history, identity, and beauty. Features Palimpsest I - Mothers House DarkRedGreen (1966). Open until 11 January 2026.
Press
In a New York Times article celebrating 250 years since Turner's birth, Emily LaBarge interviews Frank about Turner's influence and his connection to abstraction.
Brazilian contemporary art magazines Revista Cult and Das Artes profile Frank around his major presentation at the 36th Bienal de São Paulo.
Prospect Magazine's "One Painting at a Time" column highlights Frank's latest work, September (2025), in a piece written by David McAllister.
In Elephant, Melissa Baksh observes Frank at work in his studio for a conversation about exhibiting back on the continent of his birth.
In The Observer New Review, Finn Blythe interviews Frank in a reflective Q&A about family life, his 60+ year career, and painting practice today.
Further previews of Frank's São Paulo presentation appeared in The Art Newspaper, frieze, ArtReview, ARTnews, and Folha de S. Paulo.
On Display
Listening to Beethoven, 2016 at Moderna Museet, Sweden.
Night Journey, 1969-70 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Raining Down South, 1968 at MoMA, New York.
Middle Passage, 1970 at the National Gallery of Canada, Ontario.
Listening to Beethoven, 2016, acupuncture needles, plastic toys, various plastic objects and acrylic paint on canvas, 285.5 x 188.5 cm. Courtesy the artist. Photographed by Charlie Littlewood.
Frank Bowling, Night Journey, 1968-1969, acrylic on canvas, 212.7 x 183.2 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of Maddy and Larry Mohr, 2011 (2011.590.2). © Frank Bowling. All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage, 2022.
Raining Down South, 1968, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 348.5 x 275.5 cm. Courtesy the artist. Photographed by Charlie Littlewood. © Frank Bowling. All rights reserved, DACS 2024.
Frank Bowling, Middle Passage, 1970. Acrylic painting and oil ink on canvas, 319.9 x 280.3 cm. Pledge by Michael Nesbitt, Winnipeg. © Frank Bowling (Copyright Visual Arts-CARCC, 2023). Photo: NGC.
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