Elisabeth Frink - Biography

(1930-1993). Born in Thurlow, Suffolk, 14th November 1930, she died in Woolland, Dorset, 18th April 1993. Studied at Guildford School of Art 1947-9 and Chelsea School of Art 1949-53 under Bernard Meadows and Willi Soukop, making her first visit to France in 1951. She received public recognition after her first exhibition at the Beaux Art Gallery in 1952 and for her prize-winning entry for the Monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner competition in 1953. Taught at Chelsea School of Art 1953-61, at St. Martin’s School of Art 1954-62 and the Royal College of Art 1965-7. Much of her early work was based on memories of growing up during World War II, as she translated the aggressive forms of war machines and missiles into anthropomorphic human and animal forms. Using a fast technique of modelling in plaster from which direct casts in bronze are made, her work is based on a series of themes, predominantly massive male figures and heads as well as animals and birds. Main public works include: Wild Boar, Harlow New Town 1957; Eagle, lectern, Coventry Cathedral 1962; Risen Christ, Our Lady of the Wayside, Solihull 1964; Horse and Rider, Dover Street, London 1974; Running Man, Barbican 1982; Christ, Liverpool Anglican Cathedral 1993. Her work is represented in the major art galleries in Great Britain as well as in the USA, Australia and South Africa. Exhibiting since 1952, her first solo exhibitions include St. George’s Gallery, London 1955 and Waddington Galleries, London from 1959. During the 1970s she made works for Amnesty International protesting human rights violations. A major retrospective of her work was held in 1985 at the Royal Academy, where she exhibited regularly since 1954. CBE 1969; ARA 1972; RA 1977; DBE 1982. (Sources: 1. E. Frink, Catalogue raisonné, Salisbury, 1984; 2. Obituary, The Independent, 19th April 1993; 3. E. Frink, and E. Lucie-Smith, Frink: A portrait, London, 1994; 4. E. Roberts, ‘Frink again’, Women’s Art Magazine, no.62, January/February 1995, pp.22--3; 6. E. Lucie-Smith, ‘Dame Elizabeth Frink 1930--1993: an appreciation’, Art Review, London, vol.45, June 1993, pp.58--9; 7. M. Wykes-Joyce, ‘Elizabeth Frink’, Art and Artists, no.221, February 1985, pp.17--19; 9. E. Frink, The art of Elizabeth Frink, London, 1972; 10. Elizabeth Frink: sculpture and drawings 1950--1990, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC, exh.cat., 1990; 11. E. Lucie-Smith, Elizabeth Frink: sculpture since 1984 and drawings, London, 1994; 13. Elizabeth Frink: sculpture and drawings 1952--1984, Royal Academy of Arts, London, exh.cat., 1985).

The works of Elisabeth Frink: