Frink, Dame Elisabeth Jean

▪ 1994

      British sculptor (b. Nov. 14, 1930, Thurlow, Suffolk, England—d. April 18, 1993, Woolland, Dorset, England), was best known for her monumental figurative bronzes. Frink brought a sense of passion and energy to her naturalistic horses and birds and to larger-than-life figures of animals and naked men walking, standing, running, or mounted on massive horses. She studied at the Guildford School of Art (1947-49) and the Chelsea School of Art in London (1949-53) and had her first exhibition while she was still a student. She captured the attention of both the public and the critics with her earliest works—rough-textured warriors and menacing predatory birds, one of which was bought by the prestigious Tate Gallery in 1953. She had her first New York City exhibition in 1959. During the 1960s Frink created a series of enormous goggled heads, which were inspired by the Algerian civil war and were the first of several collections of heads honouring the victims of human oppression and brutality. She executed public commissions throughout the world, including a sculpture at the Kennedy Memorial in Dallas, Texas, and religious pieces for the Anglican cathedrals in Coventry, Salisbury, and Liverpool. She also lectured at the Chelsea and St. Martin's art schools and illustrated classic books, including Aesop's Fables, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and the Homeric epics. Frink was elected to the Royal Academy in 1977, made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1982, and named Companion of Honour in 1992.

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