Background
Denis Bowen was born on 5 April 1921 in Kimberley, South Africa. His father was Welsh and his mother English.
Denis Bowen was born on 5 April 1921 in Kimberley, South Africa. His father was Welsh and his mother English.
Royal College of.
He enrolled at the Huddersfield School of in 1936. After serving in the Navy in World World War II, Bowen resumed his art studies at the Royal College of in London in 1946. Between 1940 and 1986 Bowen taught art at numerous institutions including: the Kingston Institute of, Hammersmith School of, Birmingham School of, the Central School of and Design, the Royal College of and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
In 1951 Bowen founded the New Vision Group, which initially emerged from meetings and displays that he organised with his students in 1951.
In 1955, Bowen worked alongside Frank Avray Wilson and Halima Nalecz to open a permanent exhibition space for the New Vision Group and associated artists. This space was called the New Vision Centre Gallery (NVCG), and was located on Seymour Place in the Marble Architecture area of London.
While the importance of the NVCG was often overlooked while it was active, its significant role in shaping British art in the postwar period, and in promoting international artists and abstract art in particular, has been recognized in subsequent years. ists who exhibited at the NVCG included Aubrey Williams, Judy Cassab, Ron Russell, and Rotraut. Bowen served as director of the gallery from the time of its opening to the time of its closure in 1966.
Working alongside British artist Kenneth Coutts-Smith, Bowen launched the Commonwealth Biennale of Abstract at the NVGC in 1963.
In the early years of his artistic career, from the early 1950s to the mid 1960s, Bowen formed part of a small group of United Kingdom-based artists who were associated with Tachisme and Informel. Between 1969 to 1980 he produced a series of "psychedelic works" that incorporated lighting effects (including the use of Ultraviolet lights), music and live music performances. From the 1980s onward, Bowen"s work developed cosmological and planetary themes.