In the 1990s, Frank Bowling continued the trajectory he had established with his 1989 Great Thames series. Moving away from his relief-driven approach of the 1980s, he created evocative paintings that invite allusions to the natural world through their compositions or titles. At the same time, Bowling began to cut and stitch strips of canvas onto the surface of his works. While Bowling had previously experimented with collage in the 1970s, in the 1990s, this gesture recalled the actions of his mother—a seamstress—and introduced an autobiographical element into his practice.
