Ingram Reid
Director
Lot 53*,AR
Dame Elisabeth Frink R.A.(British, 1930-1993)Man with Goggles 108.3 cm. (42 5/8 in.) high
22 – 23 June 2022, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £65,820 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our Modern British & Irish Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Penny Day
Head of UK and Ireland
Christopher Dawson
Head of Department
Grace Berry
Associate Specialist
Rachael Swann
Senior Sale Coordinator
Dame Elisabeth Frink R.A. (British, 1930-1993)
Man with Goggles
signed and numbered 'Frink 0/0' (on the base)
bronze with a dark brown patina
108.3 cm. (42 5/8 in.) high
Conceived in 1969, the present work is an Artist's cast from the edition of 6
signed and numbered 'Frink 0/0' (on the base)
bronze with a dark brown patina
108.3 cm. (42 5/8 in.) high
Conceived in 1969, the present work is an Artist's cast from the edition of 6
Footnotes
Provenance
With Waddington Galleries, London, 7 December 1979, where acquired by
The Phyllis Newman and Adolph Green Collection, thence by family descent
Private Collection, U.S.A.
Exhibited
London, Waddington Galleries, Elisabeth Frink: Recent Work, 2-23 December 1969 (another cast)
London, Waddington Galleries, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture, 11 October-4 November 1972 (another cast)
Washington, The National Museum for Women in the Arts, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture and Drawings 1950-1990, 1990 (another cast)
Literature
Edwin Mullins, The Art of Elisabeth Frink, Lund Humphries, London, 1972, cat.no.112 (ill.b&w, another cast)
Jill Willder (ed.), Elisabeth Frink, Sculpture, Catalogue Raisonné, Harpvale Press, Salisbury, 1984, p.176, cat.no.185 (ill.b&w, another cast)
Annette Ratuszniak (ed.), Elisabeth Frink: Catalogue Raisonné of Sculpture 1947-93, Lund Humphries, Farnham, 2013, p.117, cat.no.FCR212 (col.ill., another cast)
Frink's celebrated goggle men series refers to a select group of works dating from 1967-69. The group consists of several bust format heads, and five striding figures. The goggle heads take the role within Frink's work as aggressors, their emotion shielded from the viewer's gaze by their highly polished eyewear. In the standing variants however, Frink affords the figure a greater degree of emotion, and as such, humanity. In one, folded arms suggest pensiveness. In another, a forward leaning body and fleetness of foot, renders the figure hurried, fearful even.
Standing at over a meter high, the present work represents the largest of the goggle men. Whilst slight in detail, the design is highly eloquent – an ability which few mastered as effectively as Frink. She presents the figure without arms, referencing classical sculpture, and the weight is borne by a single powerful leg with the other foot raised in anticipation of a purposeful forward stride. The posture is erect, the chest raised, and the head turned in a glance that is seemingly laser focused. Within his space the figure, like Frink, is in complete control.
