Dame Elisabeth Frink R.A. (British, 1930-1993)Soldier's Head II signed and numbered 'Frink 3/6' (on the back of the neck)bronze with a dark brown patina37.5 cm. (14 3/4 in.) highConceived in 1965Footnotes:ProvenanceAcquired by the family of the present owner, circa 1980, thence by descentPrivate Collection, U.K.ExhibitedLondon, Waddington Galleries, Elisabeth Frink, 1965 (another cast)London, Battersea Park, Sculpture in Battersea Park, May-September 1966 (another cast)London, Waddington Galleries I, II, III, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture and Prints and drawings from Chaucer, 11 October-4 November 1972 (another cast)London, Royal Academy, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture and Drawings 1952-1984, 8 February-25 March 1985, cat.no.33 (another cast)London, Beaux Arts, Frink: Sculpture, Drawings and Prints, 1998 (another cast)LiteratureBryan Robertson, Elisabeth Frink Sculpture Catalogue Raisonné, Harpvale Books, Salisbury, 1984, p.162-3, cat.no.118 (ill.b&w, another cast)Sarah Kent (ed.), Elisabeth Frink, Sculpture and Drawings 1952-1984, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1985, p.13, cat.no.33 (another cast)Catalogue of the Ingram Collection, The Lightbox, 2009, p.40 (col.ill., another cast)Annette Ratuszniak (ed.), Elisabeth Frink Catalogue Raisonné of Sculpture 1947-93, Lund Humphries in association with the Frink Estate and Beaux Arts, London, 2013, p.95, cat.no.FCR142 (col.ill., another cast)Frink comments; 'In the mid sixties I made a series of soldier's heads which were rather brutal. They had pigtails. I like the idea of the head being terminated in some kind of ribbon at the back. The pigtail in my sculptures was rather like a cardinal's ribbon. I was married to a man, Edward Pool, whose head was rather like this – no pigtail, but bearded, a fine head – and I incorporated his beard into the shape of a head so each sculpture, indirectly based on this man, had a rather massive jaw.' (Elisabeth Frink quoted in Jill Wilder (ed.), Elisabeth Frink Sculpture; Catalogue Raisonné, Harpvale, London, 1984, p.37). Edward (or Ted) Pool was Frink's second husband whose severe war wounds acted as a constant reminder of the violence of her times. Anti-militant, Frink engaged her sculpture to combat ideas of celebrating war and violence. The soldier is not presented as a functioning military machine but a disfigured, stupefied and helpless being. Conceived in her most active year, Soldier's Head II is an early example of Frink's use of the form of the head as a 'vehicle for emotion' and would receive early praise with Edward Mullins declaring; 'These blunt representations of the hireling thug are in my view her most interesting yet' (Edward Mullins, 'Grown-Up Prodigies', The Sunday Telegraph, 5 December, 1965, p.12).Themes first explored in the Soldier's Head works were then developed in the equally combative and iconic Goggle Heads and then resolved in the restful Tribute Heads a decade later.Another cast from this edition resides in the Ingram Collection.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
