Dame Elisabeth Frink R.A.

(British, 1930-1993)

Tribute III 68.6 cm. (27 in.) high

Footnotes

Provenance
With Waddington Galleries, London, where acquired by the family of the present owner
Thence by descent
Private Collection, U.K.

Literature
Jill Wilder (ed.), Elisabeth Frink Sculpture Catalogue Raisonné, Harpvale, Salisbury, 1984, p.185, cat.no.221 (ill.b&w, another cast)
Annette Ratuszniak (ed.), Elisabeth Frink, Catalogue Raisonné of Sculpture 1947-93, Lund Humphries, London, 2013, p.130, cat.no.FCR249 (col.ill., another cast)

Exhibited
London, Waddington and Tooth Galleries, Elisabeth Frink: Recent Sculpture, November-December 1976, not numbered (ill.b&w on the cover, another cast)
London, Battersea Park, A Silver Jubilee Sculpture Exhibition of Contemporary British Art, June–September 1977 (another cast)
New York, Terry Dintenfass Gallery, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture, Watercolours, Prints, 1979 (another cast exhibited)
Toronto, Waddington and Shiell Galleries, Elisabeth Frink, 1979 (another cast)
Winchester, Great Courtyard, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture in Winchester, July-September 1981, not numbered (another cast)
Wakefield, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Elisabeth Frink: Open Air Retrospective, July-November 1983 (another cast)
London, Royal Academy, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture and Drawings 1952-1984, February-March 1985, cat.no.69 (ill.b&w, another cast)
Washington D.C., The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture and Drawings 1950-1990, 1990, not numbered (col.ill., another cast)

From at least the 1960s the human head and masculinity were primary artistic concerns for Frink. Over the years, they became soldiers, goggle heads, warriors – all men involved with or instigating some sort of violence. Often armoured or battered they look at the viewer through rebellious eyes and evade us from behind glasses. The present work however, whilst continuing the artist's preoccupation with the male head, presents us with something entirely different.

In 1975 Frink devised a group of four 'Tribute' heads which offer an entirely new departure in the emotion they convey. They are still and strong. No longer the aggressor but a wronged and recovering victim. Downcast eyes and a slight tilt of the head all impart this sense of resilience and silent determination. There were two reasons for this new direction. The first she admitted was her interest in Amnesty International saying they were "for those people who are living under repressive regimes, who are not allowed freedom of thought, who are being persecuted for their politics or religion, or being deprived of the dignity of daily living and working. The heads are compassionate yet defiant. I hope they represent suffering and survival. And finally the optimism to go through suffering to the other side" (Stephen Gardiner, Frink, The Official Biography of Elisabeth Frink, Harper Collins, London, 1998, p.205). The second influence may have been the fact that her beloved father had recently passed away. This was the man that sparked her obsession with the male subject, so perhaps she had him in mind when she created this beautifully serene Tribute III.