Elisabeth Frink
Dame Elisabeth Frink Chelsea School of Art | |
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Known for | Sculpture |
Dame Elisabeth Jean Frink
Early life
Elisabeth Frink was born in November 1930 at her paternal grandparents' home The Grange in
The
Career
Frink studied at the
Although she made many drawings and prints, she is best known for her bronze outdoor sculpture, which has a distinctive cut and worked surface. This is created by her adding plaster to an armature, which she then worked back into with a chisel and surform.[9] This process contradicts the very essence of "modelling form" established in the modelling tradition and defined by Rodin's handling of clay.[12]
In the 1960s Frink's continuing fascination with the human form was evident in a series of falling figures and winged men. While living in France from 1967 to 1970, she began a series of threatening, monumental male heads, known as the goggled heads. On returning to England, she focused on the male nude, barrel-chested, with mask-like features, attenuated limbs and a pitted surface, for example Running Man (1976; Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art). Frink's sculpture, and her lithographs and etchings created as book illustrations, drew on archetypes expressing masculine strength, struggle and aggression.[4] In 1984 she explained that she "focused on the male because to me he is a subtle combination of sensuality and strength with vulnerability".[6]
The 1980s held capstones for Frink's career. In 1982, a new publishing firm proposed to produce a
However, despite the potential for conflict, the retrospective was a success and spurred the art world to hold more exhibitions of Frink's worth, with four solo exhibitions and several group ones coming in the following year. Tirelessly, Frink continued to accept commissions and sculpt, as well as serve on advisory committees, meet art students who had expressed an interest in her work, and pursue other public commitments.[9]
Having been elected a full Academician at the Royal Academy in 1979, there were moves to make the 54-year-old sculptor the first female president of the academy, Frink however did not want the post and it went instead to Roger de Grey.[13]
Frink kept up this hectic pace of sculpting and exhibiting until early 1991, when an operation for cancer of the oesophagus caused an enforced break. However, short weeks later Frink was again creating sculptures and preparing for solo exhibitions. In September, she underwent further surgery. Again, Frink did not let this hold her back, proceeding with a planned trip for exhibitions to New Orleans, Louisiana, and New York City. The exhibitions were a success, but Frink's health was clearly deteriorating.[9] Despite this, she was working on a colossal statue, Risen Christ, for Liverpool Cathedral.[14] This sculpture would prove to be her last; just one week after its installation, Frink died from cancer on 18 April 1993, aged 62, in Blandford Forum, Dorset.[9] Stephen Gardiner, Frink's official biographer, argued that this final sculpture was appropriate: "This awesome work, beautiful, clear and commanding, a vivid mirror-image of the artist's mind and spirit, created against fearful odds, was a perfect memorial for a remarkable great individual."[15]
Exhibitions
Frink's first solo exhibition was held at St George's Gallery, London in 1955. In 1958 she joined the Waddington Galleries, London. Between 1959 and 1972 Frink exhibited with regularity (usually one show every year) at the Waddington Galleries.
Personal life
Frink married Michel Jammet in 1955: their son was born in 1958 and the marriage was dissolved in 1963.[4] Between 1964 and 1974 she was married to Edward Pool.[4] Hungarian born Alexander Csaky,[19] whom she married as her third husband in 1974, predeceased her by only a few months. Dame Elisabeth died of cancer on 18 April 1993, aged 62.[4][20]
Highlights
Warhorse and Walking Madonna may be seen in the garden at Chatsworth House. Other work is at the Jerwood Sculpture Park at Ragley Hall. Uniquely in England, Desert Quartet (1990), Frink's penultimate sculpture, was listed at Grade II* in 2007, less than 30 years from its creation by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.[21] It may be seen opposite Liverpool Gardens in Worthing. Her 1975 bust of John Pope-Hennessy is in the collection of the British Museum.[22]
Frink School of Figurative Sculpture
Before Frink died in 1993, she had given master classes at the Sir Henry Doulton School of Sculpture then headed by sculptor Colin Melbourne ARA in Stoke-on-Trent, England. Rosemary Barnett took over as principal of the Sir Henry Doulton School of Sculpture, Stoke-on-Trent, briefly before its closure. In 1990 she met Harry Everington there and their shared artistic outlook brought about the Frink School of Figurative Sculpture which opened in 1996 in Longton and closed in 2005 at Tunstall.[23]
Permission from the Frink Estate was given to name a new school after her, because it was to continue the tradition which she represented. The Frink School of Figurative Sculpture opened in 1996, with an emphasis on sculptural form; it attempted to give some balance to the declining figurative training and increased conceptualism in sculpture schools in the UK.[24]
Studio reconstruction
In 2019, Frink's studio at Woolland in Dorset was reconstructed in a historic tithe barn at Place Farm in Tisbury, Wiltshire by the art gallery Messums Wiltshire for their 2020 exhibition A Place Apart. A collection of original plasters were exhibited in the studio alongside tools and objects salvaged from the original studio.[25]
Cultural reference
Frink was one of five
Frink was chosen as the subject of the British Art Medal Society medal in 1992. The medal by Avril Vaughan was featured in the Society's journal, The Medal, no 23 (1993).[28] The medal was cast by the Royal Mint in an edition of 47 medals.[29]
Frink's sculptures were featured in the 1963 science fiction film The Damned, directed by Joseph Losey.[30] Frink not only lent these but also was on location for their shooting and coached actor Viveca Lindfors on performing the sculptor's method of building up plaster, which was then ferociously worked and carved. Frink's work also appeared in Losey's next film, The Servant.[31]
A 1956 bronze statue of Frink, by F. E. McWilliam, stands outside the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry.
See also
- Bust of Sir Georg Solti, Chicago
References
- ^ Dame Elisabeth Frink; Obituary, The Times, 20 April 1993
- ^ "Horse and Rider | Sculptures | CASS Sculpture Foundation". www.sculpture.org.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ^ "Artist guide: Elisabeth Frink | Christie's". www.christies.com. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g Bryan Robertson (18 April 1993). "Obituary: Dame Elisabeth Frink". The Independent, London. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
- ^ "Artist guide: Elisabeth Frink | Christie's". www.christies.com. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ^ )
- ^ EFIndyObit
- ^ "Elisabeth Frink | artnet". www.artnet.com. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
- ^ a b c d e Condon, Peter. "Elisabeth Frink Biography". British Art Portfolio. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ^ "Overlooked sculptor Elisabeth Frink's legacy reexamined in extensive UK survey". www.theartnewspaper.com. 24 December 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
- ISBN 9780198175193.
- ^ "Biography". www.exploreart.co.uk. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ISBN 978-1-910350-70-6.
- ^ "Liverpool Cathedral - Art in the Cathedral". www.liverpoolcathedral.org.uk. Archived from the original on 9 September 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ^ Gardiner 1998, p. 282
- )
- ^ Mellow, James R., ed. (1964). "New York: The Art World". Arts Yearbook. 7. New York, NY: The Art Digest, Inc.: 111.
- )
- ^ Temkin, Anna. "A house with an artist's touch".
- ^ Robertson, Bryan (27 October 2018). "A Life in Focus: Dame Elisabeth Frink, sculptor". The Independent. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ^ "The Twentieth Century Society". Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2008.
- ISBN 0714105988.
- ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ^ "EVERINGTON, Harry". Not Just Hockney. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ^ "EXHIBITION: A Place Apart – Elisabeth Frink's Studio". Messums Wiltshire. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
- ^ a b "20th Century Women of Achievement (1996) : Collect GB Stamps". www.collectgbstamps.co.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ^ "Elisabeth Frink: sculptures, drawings, prints". Wendover News. 23 January 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ^ "British Medal Art Society | The Medal (issue 23, Autumn 1993)". www.bams.org.uk. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
- ^ "British Medal Art Society | Elisabeth Frink". www.bams.org.uk. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
- ^ "Elisabeth Frink on IMDb: Movies, TV, Celebs, and more..." IMDb. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ^ "The Damned". Inexpensive Progress. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
Biography and sources
- Stephen Gardiner, 1998, Elisabeth Frink: The Official Biography. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-255606-5
- Elisabeth Frink: catalogue raisonné. Sculpture to 1984. Foreword by Peter Shaffer. Introduction and Dialogue by Bryan Robertson. Published by Harpvale Books. ISBN 0-946425-05-1
- Edward Lucie-Smith. Elisabeth Frink: catalogue raisonné. Sculpture since 1984 & Drawings. Published by Art Books International. ISBN 1-874044-04-X
- Caroline Wiseman. Elisabeth Frink: original prints catalogue raisonné. Published by Art Books International. ISBN 1-874044-25-2
- Art is Why I Get Up in the Morning: Unseen and Rare Pieces by Elisabeth Frink and work by four contemporary British artists who continue today in the figurative expressionist tradition. Published by Mumford Fine Art
External links
- 174 artworks by or after Elisabeth Frink at the Art UK site
- The Elisabeth Frink Archive at Dorset History Centre
- Elisabeth Frink at Sherborne House
- Elisabeth Frink's collection in The Tate
- Elisabeth Frink at artnet
- Elisabeth Frink at Caroline Wiseman Gallery, London and New York
- Elisabeth Frink at Mumford Fine Art, London
- Elisabeth Frink at Goldmark Gallery
- Elisabeth Frink at Bohun Gallery
- Listen to Elizabeth Frink discussing her work - a British Library recording.
- Elisabeth Frink's Walking Madonna at La Salle University Art Museum
- Frink's Studio
- Messums' Frink Archive