Collection: Dennis de Caires

Dennis de Caires (1938–2008) was a Guyanese painter, publisher, and cultural figure whose career spanned fine art, journalism, and the promotion of Caribbean visual culture. Born in British Guiana (now Guyana), he studied in London before returning to the Caribbean, where he became a significant presence in the cultural life of the region.

As a painter, de Caires worked in a figurative tradition informed by his Caribbean context and his engagement with the international art world of the 1960s and 70s. He exhibited alongside Frank Bowling — another major Guyanese artist of his generation — and was part of a broader network of Caribbean artists navigating the relationship between postcolonial identity, abstraction, and figuration.

Beyond his practice as a painter, de Caires was the founder and long-serving editor of the Stabroek News, one of Guyana’s leading independent newspapers, and a founding editor of the Caribbean Review of Books. His contribution to Caribbean intellectual and cultural life extended well beyond the studio.

The New Rare holds printed matter and exhibition ephemera related to Dennis de Caires, including documents from exhibitions presented alongside Frank Bowling in Georgetown, Guyana.