Born 1930, Thurlow, Suffolk. Died 1993

Elisabeth Frink went to the Guildford School of Art in 1947 and then to Chelsea School of Art in 1949, where she taught from 1953 - 61. I n 1952 she had her first solo exhibition at the Beaux Arts Gallery and the following year won a prize in the competition for the Monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner. From 1954-62 she also taught at St Martin's College of Art in London and was a visiting lecture at the Royal College of Art from 1965-67.

Her work focused on the forms of men, dogs, horses and birds and often the relationships between them. An early commission, Blind Beggar and Dog, for Bethnal Green is an unsentimental celebration of mutual dependence and dignity. Her works are characterised by their surface texture and by a concentration on the universal rather than the particular. As such, they address public rather than personal themes. Ecclesiastical commissions have included a Risen Christ for Our Lady of the Wayside, Solihull, 1964, and the Altar Cross for Liverpool Roman Catholic Cathedral, 1966, the Walking Madonna for Salisbury Cathedral, 1981, and Christ for All Saints' Basingstoke, 1963. Her last commission was a figure of Christ for the front of the Anglican cathedral in Liverpool. She has executed a number of portraits, most notably Sir William Walton, 1976, and Sir Alec Guinness, 1983, for the National Portrait Gallery.

A memorial exhibition was staged by the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 1994 and toured to the Mead Gallery at the University of Warwick in January 1995.

Elisabeth Frink received honorary doctorates from the University of Warwick in 1983, University of Cambridge (1988), University of Exeter (1988), University of Oxford (1989) and University of Keele (1989). She also received official recognition, being awarded the CBE in 1969. In 1982 she was created a Dame of the British Empire and a Companion of Honour in 1992.

Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture, Harpvale, 1984

For further information and examples, see the following websites: City of Windsor, Canada Elizabeth Frink Official Website

Lord Butterworth