Elisabeth Frink
Horses, birds of prey and standing men, built up in plaster over armature and cut back with a chisel.
Elisabeth Frink was born in Suffolk in 1930, the daughter of a cavalry officer, and grew up near a wartime airfield — the birds, the falling men and the goggled heads all come from somewhere in that. She studied at Guildford and Chelsea and exhibited at the Beaux Arts Gallery while still a student. Her method was unusual: rather than modelling in clay, she built plaster directly onto a steel armature and then attacked it with a chisel and surform, so the finished bronze keeps a worked, hacked surface. She spent years in France, returned to Dorset, was made a Dame, and died in 1993.
The bronzes are editioned, generally in small numbers of six to ten, and identifying the cast number, the foundry and whether the cast was made in her lifetime is the substance of a valuation; posthumous casting has occurred and is treated differently. Patina is integral to the work and repatination materially reduces value. Frink was also a prolific printmaker and illustrator, particularly in lithography, with editions from the 1970s onwards that are plentiful. Drawings in ink and wash are numerous and are frequently strong.
If you own a work by Elisabeth Frink
Send photographs and whatever paperwork came with it. The first question is what the work actually is — edition or unique, when, and in what condition — because everything else follows from the answer. A valuation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
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Whitebank Fine Art is an art advisory and gallery, not an auction house, and is not affiliated with any auction house or with the artist, their estate or their representatives. This page describes the range we advise on. Nothing here is investment advice.