Penny Day
Head of UK and Ireland
Lot 108AR
Dame Elisabeth Frink R.A.(British, 1930-1993)Easter Head II 50.2 cm. (19 3/4 in.) high
15 June 2016, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£80,000 - £120,000
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Christopher Dawson
Head of Department
Ingram Reid
Director
Dame Elisabeth Frink R.A. (British, 1930-1993)
Easter Head II
signed and numbered 'Frink/3/6' (at the base of the neck)
bronze with a light green/brown patina and partially painted face
50.2 cm. (19 3/4 in.) high
Conceived in 1989
signed and numbered 'Frink/3/6' (at the base of the neck)
bronze with a light green/brown patina and partially painted face
50.2 cm. (19 3/4 in.) high
Conceived in 1989
Footnotes
Provenance
Acquired from the 1989 Bristol exhibition by the family of the present owners
Thence by descent
Private Collection, U.K.
Exhibited
Bristol, The Guardian Gallery, 5-26 August 1989 (this cast)
London, Fischer Fine Art, Elisabeth Frink: Recent Sculpture & Drawings, 5 October-9 November 1989, cat.no.22 (another cast)
Glasgow, Glasgow Festival, Elisabeth Frink, Sculpture, Drawings, Etchings, 1990 (another cast)
Washington D.C., The National Museum for Woman in the Arts, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture and Drawings 1950-1990, 1990, unnumbered (ill.b&w, another cast)
Salisbury, Cathedral and Close, Elisabeth Frink: A Certain Unexpectedness, 1997 (another cast)
London, Beaux Arts, Frink: Sculpture, Drawings and Prints, 1998, unnumbered (col.ill., another cast)
Bristol, Royal West of England Academy, Wild: Sculpture, Drawings, Original Prints by Elisabeth Frink, 2011 (another cast)
Literature
Edward Lucie-Smith, Elisabeth Frink; Sculpture Since 1984 And Drawings, Art Books International, London, 1994, p.188, cat.no.SC44 (ill.b&w, another cast)
Stephen Gardiner, Frink, The Official Biography of Elisabeth Frink, Harper Collins, London, 1998, p.267
Annette Ratuszniak (ed.), Elisabeth Frink; Catalogue Raisonné of Sculpture 1947-93, Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2013, p.181, cat.no.373
In 1989 Frink produced Easter Head I and Easter Head II, each in an edition of six. The artist herself had described these sculptures as feeling both ancient and modern at the same time and it is easy to see why. The large staring eyes are a motif heavily featured in religious art through the ages from Romano-Egyptian to Romanesque sculpture and beyond. The painted facial features reinforce this and bring to mind decorated mummy masks or the polychrome carvings of ancient Greece. In this way, Frink successfully imbued the 20th century bronze with a certain primeval mysticism.
Discussing the enigmatic title, Stephen Gardiner comments "Because of their name, many assumed they were influenced by or associated with Easter Island art, but they had nothing to do with that and everything to do with Easter, when they were done; with, in her imagination, spring, her favourite time of the year with her favourite colours, the launch of April's green offensive and momentary spotless blue skies" (Stephen Gardiner, Frink, the Official Biography of Elisabeth Frink, Harper Collins, London, 1998, p.267).
Just a handful of other casts of both Easter Head I and Easter Head II have been offered at auction over the last twenty years. However, as these sculptures are hand painted each one differs in subtle ways, and they can to some degree be regarded as unique pieces.
