Frank Bowling: 'Guiltiest pleasure? Sixteen-year-old whisky'

Born in British Guiana (now Guyana), Frank Bowling, 92, moved to the UK aged 19 and did national service in the RAF. He graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1962 with the silver medal for painting, moved to New York in 1966 and received a Guggenheim fellowship.

His map paintings were shown at the Whitney in 1971; he became the first black artist elected a Royal Academician in 2005 and had a Tate Britain retrospective in 2019. His exhibition Seeking the Sublime is at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, until January 2027.

He lives in London with his wife. Recently he says he has been happiest as people began to understand what he is trying to do in his painting. His greatest fear is being poor. He deplores his boozing — he started on rum as a child — and dislikes when others try to exercise authority over him.

United Kingdom, Cambridge

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