It's a must to see. The Fitzwilliam have created a fabulous festival of celebration in their exhibition of Frank Bowling’s work. The colours are stunning, the storyline of his long career intriguingly displayed. With critic and writer impresario Martin Gayford in the Curatorial chair, it celebrates this artist’s splurge of success in the British Art scene since his first significant work ‘The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse.’ Born in Guyana but brought up in London by his religious mother, Christian symbolism suffuses this early work, commissioned by the RCA. Next to it we see a moving image of a beggar boy one of the last figurative works before the artist took off into abstraction. The young lad in the picture is pictured outside Frank’s family store. His family, deeply observant radical believers took in homeless street people – and Frank had to wash their feet first.

“It was traumatic’ the helpful large print guide tells us.

His arresting talent took the artist into the world of colour and thoughtful abstraction. Each painting measured for major impact. The cupola used to display the pictures is perfect. I recommend the bench in the centre where you can swivel appreciatively round the semi-circular dial – aided by the guide. Every inch calculated to view the exhibition with minimum effort and maximum delight.

Only his superb work Fotoplay is hung away from the main collection... Do not miss it. Placed in gallery Four over two eighteenth century mahogany chairs upholstered in dazzling yellow chintz, it is twinned with his fellow Guyanan Aubrey. Williams, a Guyanese artist. He was best known for his large, oil-on-canvas paintings, symbols inspired by the pre-Columbian art of indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Put together these two works represent the remarkable intrusion of these artists- born in Empire to an immigrant life in Britain (with all that meant in the conservative 1950s).

The Frank Bowling collection honours the splendour of their talent and their place in British art.

Do not miss this delightful adventurous show