Frank Bowling

Mirror

1964–6

© Frank Bowling. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2019

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In Tate Britain

Frank Bowling

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Artist: Frank Bowling born 1934
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 3100 x 2168 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by the artist, Rachel Scott, and their 4 children: Benjamin and Sacha Bowling, Marcia and Iona Scott 2013
Reference: T13936

Display caption

Bowling is a contemporary of Hockney and his early work was influenced by Bacon. This painting is about aspiration and inclusion. The staircase is one at the Royal College of Art and the rest of the scene combines contemporary interior design with fashionable art such as that of the op artist Victor Vasarely. Bowling appears twice, once poised at the top, and again arriving at the bottom of the stairs, a conflicted figure caught between two worlds. Despite early success, Bowling had reason to feel excluded and this work can be seen as an expression of the resulting frustration.

Gallery label, September 2016

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Film and audio

Frank Bowling on Mirror 1966

Watch Frank Bowling speak about his painting Mirror 1966

Features

Frank Bowling: Awash with the Colour of Life

Matthew Collings

The Guyana-born British artist studied alongside David Hockney and R.B. Kitaj in the early 1960s, before making a name ...

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