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PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF MARY CARSWELLThe following group of bronzes and works on paper by Dame Elisabeth Frink were collected by Frink’s close friend and supporter, Mary Carswell (1933-2018). Based in New York with her husband Robert Carswell, Mary led a distinguished career in the non-profit sector in both the arts and social services. This included being president and founding board member of The New York Academy of Art in 1982, a devoted board member of the Clark Art Institute, and her role as Executive Director of The MacDowell Colony, a working retreat for artists. Mary and Elisabeth Frink first met in 1983, as their mutual friend Ann Christopher explained, ‘Lis and I were both members of the Royal Academy and in 1983 were the only two female sculptors!! Ken [Cook] and I were helping Lis install her 1983 exhibition at the Terry Dintenfass Gallery when a lady walked in - it was Mary with a photograph of a Frink horse, she asked him if this was the same artist - it was. Ken then introduced Mary to Lis. After their brief conversation Mary asked Ken which sculpture he thought was the best piece - he said Standing Horse (known by Lis and Ken as Ghost Horse). A few years later when Ken and I returned to New York we discovered Mary had bought the horse and it was that point on that we became close friends with Mary and Bob’.Mary’s collection, including two important works by Alex Katz, is to be offered for sale in a series of auctions at Christie’s throughout 2019 and is testament to Mary's passion and endorsement of Frink’s and Katz's work. The group of sculptures provides a varied representation of Frink’s much-loved animals, from her horses and dogs to her baboons and eagles. The collection also includes a striking example of arguably her most synonymous subject: the male figure. Green Man, never offered at auction before, is a powerful and ancient symbol of regeneration and the fertility of spring, symbolised by his head adorned with leaves.Mary was one of Frink's most important patrons - largely buying directly from Frink - and the two corresponded across the Atlantic over a period of ten years as Mary's carefully curated collection of Frink's works grew.

Dame Elisabeth Frink, R.A. (1930-1993)

Seated Baboon

Details

Dame Elisabeth Frink, R.A. (1930-1993)
Seated Baboon
signed and numbered ‘Frink 8/9’ (on the underside)
bronze with a light green and light brown patina
15 ¼ in. (38.8 cm.) long
Conceived in 1989.

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner on 10 September 1990.

Literature

C. Gerber, exhibition catalogue, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture, Drawings and Etchings, Glasgow, Glasgow Festival, Compass Gallery and Botanic Gardens, 1990, n.p., exhibition not numbered, another cast illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Elisabeth Frink, Sculpture and Drawings, 1950-1990, Washington, D.C., National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1990, p. 34, exhibition not numbered, another cast illustrated.
E. Lucie-Smith and E. Frink, Frink, A Portrait, London, 1994, pp. 102-103, another cast illustrated.
E. Lucie-Smith, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture Since 1984 and Drawings, London, 1994, pp. 31, 189, no. SC55, another cast illustrated.
A. Ratuszniak (ed.), Elisabeth Frink, Catalogue Raisonné of Sculpture 1947-93, London, 2013, pp. 184-185, no. FCR386, another cast illustrated.

Exhibited

London, Fischer Fine Art, Elisabeth Frink: Recent Sculpture and Drawings, October - November 1989, no. 19, another cast exhibited.
Glasgow, Glasgow Festival, Compass Gallery and Botanic Gardens, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture, Drawings and Etchings, August 1990, exhibition not numbered, another cast exhibited.
Washington, D.C., National Museum of Women in the Arts, Elisabeth Frink, Sculpture and Drawings, 1950-1990, 1990, exhibition not numbered, another cast exhibited.
Salisbury, Library and Galleries, Elisabeth Frink: a certain unexpectedness, May - June 1997, no. 84, another cast exhibited: this exhibition travelled to Dorset, County Museum, June - August 1997.
Bournemouth, Bournemouth University, Elisabeth Frink ... this Fleeting World, February - July 2011, another cast exhibited, catalogue not traced.

Special notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent. These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

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Angus Granlund

agranlund@christies.com +44 (0)20 7752 3240

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