Dame Elisabeth Frink
Flying Men, 1997
Bronze, 210 x 170 x 64 centimetres each
In Elisabeth Frink's sculpture, the viewer is presented with art in its most essential form. Stripped of any ornament or stylistic conceit, the rough-textured figures of Flying Men are held in straightforward action, displaying the raw plainness of a purely fluid motion. As some critics have noted, Frink's art is without "theatrical fat:" there is no "falsity of feeling." These figures move in simple pleasure. They illustrate the full realization that they are physically and spiritually free.
About Dame Elisabeth Frink
She was born in Thurlow, Suffolk, England, in 1930. From 1947 to 1949, she attended the Guilford School of Art and from 1949 to 1953, she studied under Bernard Meadows and Willi Soukop at the famous Chelsea School of Art.
Solo exhibitions of her work have been staged in most of the world's finest galleries. Among her best-known works are the Eagle Lectern in Coventry Cathedral, Man on a Horse in Piccadilly Circus and the Kennedy Memorial in Dallas, Texas. Elisabeth Frink's honorary titles include degrees from Oxford University, the University of Surrey, University of Warwick, University of Exeter and Cambridge University.
She was awarded a Doctorate by the Royal College of Art in 1982. In 1990, a book entitled, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture and Drawing 1950-1990 was published in Washington, D.C. by the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The British Postal Service released a commemorative stamp honouring her as one of the outstanding women of the 20th century. Dame Elisabeth Frink died in 1993.