Frank Bowling
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Frank Bowling (born 1936) is a Guyana born British artist and is widely considered to be one of the most distinguished black artists to emerge from post-war British art schools.
An abstract painter, he graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1962 alongside David Hockney, at graduation, Hockney won the gold medal while Bowling won the silver. A move to New York exposed Bowling to his American contemporaries and won him a place in the 1971 Whitney Biennial. Bowling spends part of each year between London and New York where he maintains studios.
Bowling's paintings are exhibited in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States and are included in major private and corporate collections worldwide. Bowling's work can also be seen in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum and Museum of Modern Art in New York, as well as the Tate Gallery in London.
On May 26, 2005 Bowling was elected a member of England's Royal Academy of Art. Bowling was among about a dozen artists proposed to fill one of two vacancies in the eighty-member academy, and is the first Black British artist to be elected a Royal Academician in the history of the institution.