Elisabeth Frink

Elisabeth Frink (1930–1993) was born in the village of Great Thurlow, Suffolk. Her father was an officer in the Dragoon Guards and her childhood in the countryside influenced her choice of subjects such as dogs and horses. Living near an RAF base, Frink sometimes witnessed bombers returning battered or in flames during the war. Eventually, Frink and her brother were sent to lodge with a family friend in Exmouth, Devon. After the war, Frink studied at the Guildford School of Art (now UCA) and at the Chelsea School of Art (1949-53). She was associated with an emerging group of British sculptors, nicknamed the Geometry of Fear school, which included Kenneth Armitage and Eduardo Paolozzi. She went on to teach at Chelsea (1953-60) and St Martin’s School of Art (1955-7). Frink held her first major solo exhibition at the Beaux Arts Gallery in London in 1952 and the Tate Gallery purchased one work entitled Bird.