Dame Elisabeth Frink, R.A.

Mr & Mrs Allan Harvey, U.S.A.
Sale, Sotheby's London, 6th December 2000, lot 242
Beaux Arts, London, where acquired by the present owner, 13th February 2001

London, Waddington Galleries, Elisabeth Frink, 4th - 25th June 1959, cat. no.22 (another cast);
Wakefield, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Elisabeth Frink: Open Air Retrospective, 1983 (another cast);
London, Royal Academy, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture and Drawings 1952-1984, 8th February - 24th March 1985, cat. no.11, illustrated (another cast);
Washington, The National Museum for Women in the Arts, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture and Drawings 1950-1990, 1990 (another cast);
Dorchester, Dorset Country Museum, Elisabeth Frink: Man and the Animal World, 1997 (another cast);
Bristol, Royal West of England Academy, Wild: Sculpture, Drawings, Originals Prints by Elisabeth Frink, 2011 (another cast).
Dorset, Bournemouth University, 2011-2012 (another cast).

Bryan Robertson (intro.), Elisabeth Frink Sculpture Catalogue Raisonné, Harpvale Books, Salisbury, 1984, cat. no.46, p.146, illustrated (another cast);
Annette Ratuszniak (ed.), Elisabeth Frink, Catalogue Raisonné of Sculpture 1947-93, Lund Humphries in association with the Frink Estate and Beaux Arts, London, 2013, cat. no.FCR57,  illustrated p. 63 (another cast).

Structurally sound. There is very minor surface dirt, dust and matter to the work, with some isolated areas of oxidisation and casting residue apparent upon close inspection. Elsewhere there is some minor ware to the patina of the dog's nose, but this excepting the work appears in very good overall condition. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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'I am interested that men and animals are confronted with combat in their lives ... I try to create the stress and tension this causes. I admire strength under stress.' (the Artist quoted in Elisabeth Frink, Catalogue Raisonné of Sculpture 1947-93, op. cit., p.47). 

Frink's interest in the relationship between man and animals was to become one of her most resonant themes. She sculpted horses and dogs 'because they've been man's best friend for thousands of years' (the Artist quoted in Elisabeth Frink, Catalogue Raisonné of Sculpture 1947-93, op. cit., p.18). Dog, conceived in 1958, is one of Frink’s earliest canine sculptures. This bronze is very different in structure and texture when compared with her later more sentimentalised works of the 1980s and 90s which are far more representative of the animal from which she is working. These later sculptures tend to resemble the solid Hungarian Vizsla, a gun-dog with droopy ears, rounded nose and raised eyebrows. This is an inquisitive and friendly domestic companion in comparison to the present work which takes its inspiration from the earlier bronze, Dog (1957) and Blind Beggar and Dog (1957).

This work, with its rough and pitted surface, takes on a more wild and jackal-like appearance, similar in style to Frink’s boars and bird sculptures of the late 1950s. Frink often drew inspiration from myths and legends and it was at this time that she began working on a series of drawings on the mythical Irish warrior Cú Chulainn, a shape-shifter, associated with dogs and ravens. Unlike the solidity of the later well-fed dogs, the skeletal body of this dog is lean and agile. The dog is caught mid-movement, poised and tensely alert, focused on a scent above its head. The fragile legs have been attenuated and the powerful neck stretched, merging into the head whilst the features of the animal’s face are barely visible. The shape has been pared down to the essentials in a similar fashion to Frink’s earliest depictions of the Horse and Rider, 1969 (FCR215 and FCR216). In both sculptures the animals are without tails, their necks are outstretched and their bodies supported by thin legs. Frink wanted to catch the spirit of the animal: ‘The animals I make are far more what I feel about them than what they are in real life ... I am more interested in the spirit of the animal' (Edward Lucie-Smith and Elisabeth Frink, Frink a Portrait, Bloomsbury Publishing Limited, London, 1994, p.121).

This work was conceived at an important time for Frink when her reputation as a leading British sculptor was becoming established. In the immediate post-war years, the international success of the prize-winning sculptors Bernard Meadows, Kenneth Armitage, Lynn Chadwick, Reg Butler and Geoffrey Clarke who all represented Britain at the 1952 Biennale, created a positive climate in which Frink thrived. In 1959 she would be included alongside these sculptors in the Fifth Biennial of International Art Exhibition at Middelheim Park, Antwerp. That same year she would have solo shows at Bertha Schaefer Gallery, New York and Waddington Galleries, London.