Elisabeth Frink

Elisabeth Frink was a sculptor best known for her depictions of the male form and animals, and in particular birds. Religious motifs and themes of masculine strength, struggle, and aggression feature prominently in her work. She studied at Guildford School of Art (1946–9) and Chelsea School of Art (1949–53). By the age of 22 she had sold her first artwork to the Tate. Apart from a brief affiliation with the avant-garde sculptural movement Geometry of Fear in the 1950s, Frink pursued an individual vision, producing more than 400 sculptures over the course of her career without any help from studio assistants. The textures of her sculptures  range from craggy, rough, and expressionist, to smoother and more self-contained, created through the application of wet plaster onto metal armature before casting. Frink was an advocate of  sculptures being placed outside, and completed several public commissions, including the Walking Madonna (1981) at Salisbury Cathedral and Risen Christ (1993) at Liverpool Cathedral. It was in the open air or beside great architecture that she believed sculpture was best able  to communicate its meaning.