Maps, colour and abstract art
Frank Bowling, whose images can be supplied and licensed through Artimage, is widely celebrated for his contribution to the genre of abstract art.
The acquired painting, Marcia H Travels, 1970, forms part of Frank Bowling’s seminal body of work, Map Paintings, in which he used the outlines of world maps to experiment with colour. The paintings represented a new take on the colour field paintings of abstract expressionist artists such as Mark Rothko, yet shared similar techniques to Bowling’s Pop Art contemporaries, such as Peter Blake.
In an interview for Abstract Critical, October 2013, Bowling explained to John Bunker how and why he began working with maps:
“I was just laying the canvas on the floor and would then lay on the paint and start staining. I’d use colour to follow the way the light moved across the room as the day went along. At one point the liquid paint started to form a pool in the shape of a head. At first look it seemed like a caricature of General de Gaulle…But as the paint settled it looked less like de Gaulle and more like a map of South America.
I also recalled that as a child at school we were taught how to draw the map of Guiana. Larry Rivers suggested I use an overhead projector to get an accurate rendition of the maps of South America and Guiana. When I moved to a bigger studio in downtown New York I began cutting out these big thick brown paper stencils and started making the maps for real.”
As Bowling continued to work with maps, the paintings took on greater socio-political meaning, referencing his background in British Guiana and the African diaspora.
For the first time in nearly 45 years, Marcia H Travels and other works from the series will be showing at Dallas Museum of Art in Frank Bowling: Map Paintings, from 20 February until 2 August 2015. Find out more.
Browse similar works by Frank Bowling
High quality, approved images of Frank Bowling’s paintings can be supplied and licenced through Artimage. Our fees are paid back to Frank Bowling, supporting his work. Browse images below.
Ah Susan Whoosh, 1981:
Great Thames IV, 1988-1989:
Midwinterstump, 2011:
Buttoned It Up Again For Barney and Mark, 2013:
Portrait of Frank Bowling in his studio, by Nicholas Sinclar:
Image credits from top: Marcia H Travels, 1970, Frank Bowling © Frank Bowling, courtesy of the Artist and Hales Gallery, photograph by Charles Robinson; Ah Susan Whoosh, 1981, Frank Bowling © Frank Bowling, All Rights Reserved, DACS 2015; Great Thames IV, 1988-1989, Frank Bowling © Frank Bowling. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2015, Image: © Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre; Midwinterstump, 2011, Frank Bowling © Frank Bowling, All Rights Reserved, DACS 2015; Buttoned It Up Again For Barney and Mark, 2013, Frank Bowling © Frank Bowling, All Rights Reserved, DACS 2015; Frank Bowling, 2014, Nicholas Sinclair © Nicholas Sinclair, All rights reserved, DACS 2015.