Frank Walter

David Zwirner presents an exhibition of work by Antiguan artist, writer, and polymath Frank Walter (1926–2009) at the gallery’s London location. Organised in collaboration with the artist’s family, the exhibition will mark the first solo presentation of Walter’s work in London. Building upon his recent, celebrated retrospective at Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, the presentation will showcase the immense depth of Walter’s intellect and creativity and his prolific artistic output. It will include several works that have never been exhibited before.

Over the course of six decades, Walter, a descendent of slaves and plantation owners, created a vast body of work that encompasses a variety of media, styles, and formats. His paintings range from highly individualistic, vividly coloured landscapes that evoke the Romantic spirit of William Blake and Caspar David Friedrich; to formally inventive and probing portraits, many of which reflect the complexities of racial identity; to systematic, abstract compositions reminiscent of the paintings of Hilma af Klint, all rendered in the artist’s own absorbing palette and distinctive visual style.