Frink, Elizabeth (1930–1994)

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Frink, Elizabeth (1930–1994)

English sculptor. Born in Suffolk, England, in 1930; died in 1994; convent educated; studied at the Guildford School of Art (1947–49), and later at the Chelsea School of Art (1949–53), under Bernard Meadows and Willi Soukop; married Michael Jamnet (1956–62); married Edward Pool (1968–1974); married Alex Csaky, in 1975.

During her early career, sculptor Elizabeth Frink taught at her alma mater, the Chelsea School of Art (1953–60), and at the St. Martin's School of Art (1955–57). She lived in France from 1967 to 1972, and later returned to England, living and working in Dorset. Her early works are characterized by their rough surfaces and aggressive quality, reflecting the influences of artists such as Lynn Chadwick and Kenneth Armitage. Frink, who exhibited regularly from 1955, is best known for a series of heads, begun in the mid-1960s, which reflect her interest in war and the military. In the mid-1970s, her warriors and soldiers gave way to victims of suffering. Frink also executed a number of public and religious commissions, including the Alcock Brown Memorial, for Manchester Airport (1962), Horse and Rider (London, Dover Street), and Walking Madonna, for Salisbury Cathedral (1981). She also painted and produced etchings illustrating Aesop's Fables (1967), The Canterbury Tales (1971), and the Odyssey and Iliad (1974–5). Elizabeth Frink was made a CBE in 1969.