'Neglected' black artist recognised at last

Once he was ranked alongside David Hockney, Ron Kitaj, Peter Phillips and Derek Boshier as one of the founders of British pop art. Frank Bowling, the silver medallist from the Royal Academy's celebrated class of 62, however, has been suffering from "benign neglect" in Britain ever since.

Once he was ranked alongside David Hockney, Ron Kitaj, Peter Phillips and Derek Boshier as one of the founders of British pop art. Frank Bowling, the silver medallist from the Royal Academy's celebrated class of 62, however, has been suffering from "benign neglect" in Britain ever since.

But this could all be about to change for the British Guyanan painter who was told in the 1960s that this country was "not ready for a black artist."

A retrospective of his work is being staged at the Broadbent Gallery in west London next month and for the first time in his career he has secured representation in the London art market.

"It is madness that I had been successful since 1958 and still had no representation here," he says.

Just a single picture hangs in the Tate Modern - and that only after he "harangued" a curator, he says.

In the United States by contrast, he has exhibited at the Whitney Biennial and been awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships.

The exhibition runs from 7 September to 7 October. Enquiries 020-72298811