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Dame Elisabeth Frink with two of her works

THE works of the Dorset sculptor who designed Dorchester's Martyrs statues has gone on display at Sherborne House.

The rare exhibition of Dame Elisabeth Frink's work, including paintings, is open until April and offers the perfect chance for people to become better acquainted with the world-renowned artist and her works.

Frink, who died in 1993, spent the last years of her life in Blandford and was one of the last century's foremost sculptors.

In 1985, she made the group of imposing martyrs statues which stand at the Icen Way end of South Walks in Dorchester and some of her sculptures were also used in the Hammer science fiction film, The Damned, made in Dorset in the early 1960s and starring Oliver Reed.

Sherborne House spokeswoman Fiona Robinson said: "She was one of the best sculptors of her time but I am not even sure that local people are aware that her work includes the martyrs statues in Dorchester.

"Sherborne House is very lucky to have the exhibition and as it is the last display it will show for some time, this is an excellent one to have."

Born in 1930, Frink grew up under the shadow of the Second World War, experiencing images ranging from the reportage of the liberation of the Belsen Concentration Camp down to the shooting of animals for food.

These early encounters with the images of death stayed with her and profoundly influenced her work. As a child she drew intuitively and created imaginary creatures, drawing on memories from her subconscious.

Frink's Dorchester Martyrs scupture

Dame Elisabeth studied at the Guildford School of Art and at the Chelsea School of Art. She was linked with the post-war school of British sculptors, including Reg Butler, Bernard Meadows and Eduardo Paolozzi, though her work is distinguished by her commitment to naturalistic forms and themes.

Frink's range of subjects included men, birds, dogs, horses and religious motifs. The alert and menacing Bird, which she made in 1952 and which can be found in the Tate London, is typical of her early work.

Her sculptures can be seen all over the world, from Risen Christ at Liverpool Cathedral to Eagle at the Dallas JFK Memorial and the Goggle Heads and flock of sheep in London's Paternoster Square.

She concentrated on bronze outdoor sculpture with a scarred surface created by repeatedly coating an armature with wet plaster. Each coating is distressed and broken, eliminating detail and generalising form.

Much of her work can appear hard and masculine and organisers of the Sherborne exhibition hope that they will be able to show Frink's softer' side, such as her marvellous depiction of a goshawk.

The centrepiece will be the four magnificent Tribute Heads of 1975, which reveal the power and deceptive simplicity of her monumental forms. They will be complemented by a selection of smaller sculptures of horses, birds, buffalo and men, as well as a selection of prints and drawings.

Fiona said: "The focus of the show is that while people do know her more macho and male work, like the Goggle Men, there will also be a lot of her animal sculptures.

"Even her Tribute Heads, although they are large, are quite poignant and not as hard as some of her other stuff. The material in this exhibition has been loaned by Elisabeth Frink's family and is a taste of the phenomenal richness of work which would be available permanently at Sherborne House if the archive were to be housed there. People will come along to the exhibition and see so much stuff here."

Events during the exhibition will include schools and artist-led workshops and a talk about Frink's life and work at the White Room Art Café on Thursday, February 28.

The exhibition runs until Sunday, April 6, and opening times are 10.30am-4.30pm. The gallery will be closed on Mondays and Easter Sunday and admission is free You can find Sherborne House along Newland in Sherborne. It can be contacted on 01935 816426 and via sherbornehouse.org.uk

2:38pm Thursday 28th February 2008

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