Soldiers Head, 1964

Soldiers Head, 1964
Frink, Elizabeth
BOWMAN SCULPTURE
6 Duke Street St James’s, London SW1Y 6BN
Tel. +44 (0) 207 930 0277
[email protected]
www.bowmansculpture.com
Soldier’s Head, 1964
Elisabeth Frink
(English, 1930–1993)
Signed ‘Frink’
Bronze, edition of 6
Height: 18 inches
Provenance:
Everard Read gallery Johannesburg, purchased 1984
Private collection, London
Literature:
Edward Lucie-Smith, Elizabeth Frink Sculpture Since 1984 & Drawings, Art Books International, London 1994, p161 (ill.) Ref: 112
Frink achieved commercial success at a young age when, in
1952, Beaux Arts Gallery in London held her first major
solo exhibition and the Tate Gallery purchased one work,
entitled Bird. This marked the beginning of a highly
acclaimed career in which Frink earned a reputation as one
of Britain’s most important post-war sculptors.
The image of the soldier’s head exerted an abiding
fascination for Frink throughout her career. Her earliest
large-scale head Warrior’s Head of 1954 is an image
of nobility and heroism, depicted in a classical helmet
reflecting an ancient and honourable civilization.
Warrior’s Head, 1954
The markedly different Soldier’s Head was created in 1964 and was the key image
which sparked series after series of soldier’s heads, which went on to define the
artist.
Frink was affected by her experience of living with her then boyfriend, ex-gunner,
Arthur Collings, who had been damaged by his wartime experiences. Frink said: ‘I
feel that men are sent out to war in armies, and they become brutalised, to a great
extent.’ Frink said of this sculpture: ‘The first sort of soldier’s head I did…is very
blitzed, and blasted, and damaged. He’s lost his features almost completely.’
The textured scarred surface visible on Soldier’s Head became central to her oeuvre.
These distinctive cut and worked surfaces were created by her building up plaster
over an armature which she then worked back into with a chisel and suform,
carving as much as modeling in the true sense.
In 1965 Frink went on to create the shell-shocked looking Soldier’s Heads I-V
where Frink further explored her attitude to violence and the idea of the soldier as
hero. The scarred heads express both mindless aggressor and moving victim.
This series, together with the Heads of
1967 led to the most sinister Goggled
Heads of 1969, in which the artist’s
feelings about the Algerian war and the
aggression of the Moroccan strongmen
are reflected.
The Goggle Heads are smoothly
sculpted and move away from the more
expressionistic earlier Soldier’s Heads.
The artist with Tribute and Goggle Heads
With the protruding jaws, flaring
nostrils and eyes obscured by reflective
polished bronze goggles these are the heads of thugs. At this period, Frink was
living in the Camargue and the Goggle Heads are a direct response to the Algerian
war, the goggles relate to the Moroccan General Oufkir who often hid behind dark
sunglasses. Frink said of the Google Heads: ‘That was a comment on all dictatorship,
repressive regimes. So they’ve changed from being the victims of brutality.’
Frink’s sculpture drew on archetypes expressing masculine strength, struggle and
aggression. With all her Heads, Frink demonstrates a penetrating understanding of
the male psyche. She captures the vulnerability of the bully.
Frink identified strongly with war and human rights issues. Her father had served
as a professional soldier at Dunkirk and she was a paid-up member of Amnesty
International. Frink’s Tribute Heads of 1975 are universal images of man’s suffering
and vulnerability and pay tribute to all people who have died or suffered for their
beliefs. These men are heroes in the sense that they are survivors, but they are also
victims stripped of everything but their human courage.
Frink never used models and in her maturity preferred to work in relative isolation,
even turning down an offer to become President of the Royal Academy. She drew
inspiration from those closest to her and her heads take on the facial characteristics
of those she knew best and many bear a striking resemblance to the artist herself.
Elisabeth Frink was awarded the CBE
in 1969 and was created Dame of the
British Empire in 1982.
The artist with Tribute Heads
BOWMAN SCULPTURE
6 Duke Street St James’s, London SW1Y 6BN
Tel. +44 (0) 207 930 0277
[email protected]
www.bowmansculpture.com