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Elisabeth Frink Biography
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Elisabeth Frink was one of Britain's most remarkable and accordingly well-rounded twentieth-century artists. A prolific and driven artist, her pieces were highly sought after, from the beginning, starting with the Tate organization's purchase of Bird in 1952, while she was still an undergraduate student at the Chelsea College of Art, London (1949-53).
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Although animal forms were subjects she continued to produce for some time, with horses and dogs recurring as subject matter through out her life, she also worked from the early days with the human subject. Frink's first known head is, Arthur Collings (1952), a boyfriend while attending Chelsea. Frink's work was also entwined in her personal life, nothing would prevent her from determinedly charging to the studio each morning, she always expressed intense attitudes and emotions through work. While the product of a long-standing military family, Elisabeth was appalled at the violation of human rights initiated by officers during the Algerian wars. As a result she produced the Goggled Head series in the late 1960s, which depicted these men with severe features and immense sunglasses, behind which they hid from stark realities.
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Following years of prolific art production and innumerable displays of work, Elisabeth Frink was diagnosed with cancer in her early 60s. During the last year of her life she was unable to work as intensively however, she managed to complete a number of commissions already agreed, and, unbeknownst to most, Elisabeth delivered her best with a very personal portrait. Exuding the confidence of a learned sculptor and the compassionate love of a grandmother, Tully (unfinished) (1992), portrays the head of her son Lin's son. This piece is also a tribute to her determination to continually master new skills; despite her illness and the resultant time restraint, rather than work as usual from plaster; the artist beautifully modeled this final form from clay.
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Elisabeth Frink was no doubt one of the twentieth-century greats, and, as fittingly worded by Elisabeth's art dealer and friend Theo Waddington in 2005, she may not have had the quantity of years, but she certainly had the quality of years.
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Guilford School of Art (1947-49)
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Chelsea School of Art (under Bernard meadows & Willi Soukop) (1949-53)
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Chelsea School of Art (1953-61)
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St. Martin's School of Art (1954-62)
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Awards: CBE (1969), Honorary Doctorate, University of Surrey (1977), DBE (1982) Doctorate, Royal College of Art (1982), Honorary Doctorate, Open University (1983), Doctorate of Literature, University of Warwick (1983), Honorary Doctorate, University of Cambridge (1988), Honorary Doctorate, University of Exeter (1988), Honorary Doctorate, University of Oxford (1989), Honorary Doctorate, University of Keele (1989), Retired from the Board of Trustees of the British Museum (1989), Honorary Doctorate, University of Manchester (1990), Honorary Doctorate, University of Bristol (1991), Companion of Honour (1992)
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Collections include Great Britain Arts Council, London; Atkinson Art gallery, Southport; Birmingham City Museums and Art Gallery; Bolton Museum and Art Gallery; British Museum, London; Dorset County Museum, Dorchester, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; East Haydock Branch Library, St Helens; Ipswich Museums and Galleries Leicestershire Museums; Middlebrough Art Gallery; Oldham art Gallery; Portsmouth City Museum and Art gallery; Royal Academy of the Arts, London; Royal Airforce museum, Hendon, London; Salford Art Gallery; Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum, Salisbury; Scottish gallery of modern Art, Edinburgh; Sheffield City Art Galleries; Sutton Manor Arts Centre, Winchester; Tate Gallery, London, Walker Art gallery, Liverpool; Whitworth Gallery, University of Manchester; United States Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Chrysler Museum, Provincetown; Joseph Hirshhorn Collection, Washington; Museum of Modern Art, New York Australia Brisbane Art Gallery; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne South Africa South African National Gallery, Cape Town
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Commissions Boar, Harlow New Town (1957), Blind Beggar & Dog, Bethnal Green (1957), Birdman, London County Council (1958), Carlton Tower (1960), Eagle Lectern, Coventry Cathedral (1962), Alcock and Brown Memorial, Manchester Airport (1962), Flying Figures, Ulster Bank, Belfast (1963), Eagle, J.F. Kennedy Memorial, Dallas, Texas (1964), Risen Christ, Our Lady of the Wayside, Solihull (1964), Alter Cross, Liverpool Cathedral (1966), Trophy for King George IV and Queen Elizabeth, de Beers (1974), Horse and Rider, Dover Street, London (1974), Paternoster, Paternoster Square, London (1975), Horse, Milton Keynes (1978), Horse, Goodwood Racecourse (1980), Flying Men, Brixton Estates, Dunstable (1982), Christ, All Saints' Church, Basingstoke (1983)
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| Selected Exhibitions |
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Selected Solo Exhibitions:
The National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington D.C. (1991)
Gallerie Simon Stern, New Orleans (1991)
Chesil Gallery, Portland, Dorset (1991/97)
New Grafton Gallery, London (drawings) (1989)
Lumley Cazalet, London (prints) (1989)
Fischer Fine Art, London (1989)
Hong Kong Festival (1989)
Ayling Porteous Gallery, Chester, Chestershire (graphics) (1988)
Keele University, Staffordshire (1988)
Arun Art Centre, Arundel, Sussex (1987)
Coventry Cathedral, Warwickshire (1987)
Reed Stremmel, San Antonio, Texas (1986)
David Jones Art Gallery, Sydney (1986)
Poole Arts Centre, Poole, Dorset (1986)
Beaux Arts, Bath, Avon (1986/87)
Waddington Graphics, London (1985)
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (1985)
Royal Academy of Arts, London (1985)
University of Surrey, Guildford (1984)
St Margaret's Church, Kings Lynn, Norfolk (1984)
University of Surrey, Guilford (1984)
Terry Dintinfass Gallery, New York (1991/83/79)
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Bretton Hall (1983)
Bohun Gallery, Henley-on-Thames (1992/87/83/80/78)
Beaux Arts Gallery, Bath (1982)
Dorset County Museum, Dorchester (1982)
Hambledon Gallery, Blandford (1981/70)
Salisbury Arts Centre (1980)
Waddington Galleries, London (1980/76/72/71/65-69/63/59)
Waddington and Shiell Galleries, Toronto (1979)
Salisbury Playhouse (1978)
Waddington Galleries, Montreal (1977)
Galerie D'Eendt, Amsterdam (1977)
Collectors' Gallery, Johannesburg (1976)
Yehudi Menuhuin School, Cobham (1976)
David Paul Gallery, Chichester (1975)
Maltzahn Gallery, London (1974)
Kettle's Yard gallery, University of Cambridge (1973)
Halesworth Gallery, Suffolk (1970)
Thoresby College, King's Lynn Festival (1969)
Curwen Gallery, London (1965)
Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles (1964/61)
Bertha Schaefer gallery, New York (1964/61)
St. George's Gallery, London (1955)
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Selected Group Shows:Art Is Why I Get Up in the Morning. Unseen & rare pieces from Elisabeth Frink’s studio & Work by four contemporary British artists Who continue today in the figurative expressionist tradition, Mumford Fine Art, London (2006)
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London (1991/87/83/82/79/78/71-76)
Sacred in Art, Long and Ryle, London (1989)
President's Choice, Royal Academy and The Arts Club, London (1989)
The National Rose Society, Lincolnshire, (1989)
Grape Lane Gallery, York (1989)
Tribute to Turner, Thomas Agnew, London (1989)
Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, Lancashire (1988)
Angela Flowers Gallery, London (1988)
Expo '88, Brisbane (1988)
Abbot Hall, Cumbria (1987)
Royal College of Art, London (1987)
Albemarle Gallery, London (1987)
Kingfisher gallery, Edinburgh (1987)
Salisbury Ecclesiastical Festival, Wiltshire (1987)
Menagerie, Sculpture Park, Bretton Hall, Wakefield (1986)
Barbican Centre, London (1986)
Chicago Art Fair (1986)
British Artists' Books 1970-1983, Atlantis Gallery, London (1984)
Drawings, School of Art, Guildford, Surrey (1984)
Man and Horse, Metropolitan Museum, New York (1984)
Sculpture in a Country Park Royal, Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, Margam (1983)
Maquettes for Public Sculpture, Margam (1982)
Artists' Workshop, Newbury (1982)
Prophesy and Vision, Arnolfini, Bristol (1982)
Women's Art Show 1550-1970, Nottingham Castle Museum (1982)
Sculpture at Wells, Somerset (1982)
Annual Exhibition, Hayward Gallery, London (1982/78)
Twelve Sculptures to Touch, Portsmouth City Museum and Art Gallery (1981)
Halesworth Gallery, Suffolk (1981/78)
Sculpture for the Blind, Tate Gallery, London (1981)
British Sculpture in the 20th Century, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (1981)
Waddington Galleries, London (1981)
Growing Up with Art, Leicestershire Collection for Schools and Colleges, traveling exhibition (1980-81)
Women's Images of Men, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (1980)
Biennale, Varese, Milan (1980)
Russell Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournesouth (1979)
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (1977-79)
Hambledon Gallery, Blandford (1977)
A Silver Jubilee Exhibition of Contemporary British Sculpture, Battersea Park, London (1977)
Arts Club, London (1976)
Curwen Gallery, London (1973)
Balcombe Galleries, Sussex (1971)
Park Square Gallery, Leeds (1971)
Waddington Galleries, Montreal (1970)
East Kent and Folkestone Arts Centre (1968)
Sculpture: An Open Air Exhibition of Contemporary British and American Works, Battersea Park, London (1963)
Frink: Bell: Golding- Three Aspects of Contemporary Art, Whiteworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester (1962)
Sculpture: An Open Air, Battersea Park, London (1960)
Biennale Voor Beeldouwkunst, Middelheimpark, Antwerp (1959)
John Moores Exhibition, Liverpool (1957/59)
Sculpture 1850 and 1950, Holland Park, London (1957)
Some Contemporary British Sculpture, Aldeburgh Festival (1956)
Yngre Brittiska Skulptorer, British Council/Riksforbundet for Bildande Konst travelling exhibition, Sweden (1956-57)
Junge Englische Bildhaur: Plastiken und Zeichnungen, British Council traveling exhibition, Germany (1955-56)
Sculpture: An Open Air, Holland Park, London (1954)
Beaux Arts Gallery, London (1952)
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