Dame Elisabeth Frink, R.A. (1930-1993)
Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's… Read more PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE NORTH AMERICAN COLLECTION
Dame Elisabeth Frink, R.A. (1930-1993)

Running Man (Front Runner)

Details
Dame Elisabeth Frink, R.A. (1930-1993)
Running Man (Front Runner)
signed and numbered 'Frink 2/4' (on the base)
bronze with a green and dark brown patina
77 in. (195.6 cm.) high
Conceived and cast in 1986.
Provenance
Private collection, USA.
Anonymous sale; Christie’s, London, 26 March 1993, lot 145, as 'Front Runner', where purchased by the present owner.
Literature
B. Robertson, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture and Drawings, Staffordshire, University of Keele, 1988, n.p., exhibition not numbered, another cast illustrated, as 'Front Runner'.
Exhibition catalogue, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture and Drawings 1950-1990, Washington, D.C., National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1990, p. 50, exhibition not numbered, another cast illustrated, as 'Front Runner'.
E. Lucie-Smith, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture since 1984 and Drawings, London, 1994, pp. 13, 184, another cast illustrated, as 'Running Man'.
A. Ratuszniak (ed.), Elisabeth Frink Catalogue Raisonné of Sculpture 1947-93, London, 2013, pp. 170-171, no. FCR348, another cast illustrated.
Exhibited
Staffordshire, University of Keele, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture and Drawings, June - July 1988, exhibition not numbered, another cast exhibited, as 'Front Runner'.
Washington, D.C., National Museum of Women in the Arts, Elisabeth Frink: Sculpture and Drawings 1950-1990, 1990, exhibition not numbered, another cast exhibited, as 'Front Runner'.
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. This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.

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William Porter
William Porter

Lot Essay


‘My sculptures of the male figure are both man and mankind. In these two categories are all the sources of all my ideas for the human figure … I like to watch a man walking and swimming and running and being ... I can sense in a man’s body a combination of strength and vulnerability – not as weakness but as the capacity to survive through stoicism or passive resistance, or to suffer or feel’ (E. Frink, quoted in B. Robertson (intro.), Elisabeth Frink Sculpture: Catalogue Raisonné, Salisbury, 1984, pp. 36-37).

One of the most recognisable and powerful motifs in her career, the male figure demonstrates Elisabeth Frink’s preoccupation with exploring complexities of the human condition. Where principally male artists were depicting women as muses or nurturing mother figures, Frink set herself apart from her contemporaries, her focus on the male going against the emerging abstract expressionist trajectory of 20th Century artwork. Influenced by childhood experiences of war and her empathetic views on amnesty, Frink viewed the image of man as a sensual vessel, fascinated with capturing both the tranquility and volatile state of humans, together with the culpability of mans’ actions on one another and nature.

Portrayal of these traits of humankind became a driving force for Frink, striving to capture this feeling of a man over its anatomical accuracy or beauty. This theme continued throughout her oeuvre and was key to establishing her unique style and her place as one of the most influential Modern British sculptors. As she developed her widely celebrated male busts into imposing full length nudes of anonymous men captured in various states: standing, sitting, falling and riding horses, the running man series, which began in the mid-1970s became a particularly dominant theme. The present work is a late example of this, with evident influence from Alberto Giacometti and Germaine Richier’s existentialist approach to figurative sculpture.

A solitary figure, Running Man (Front Runner) is dynamically frozen mid-stride, advancing towards an unknown destination. Conceived in 1986, the same year as Frink’s Riace Warrior sculptures, the figure captures both the strength and brutality of man with a similar warrior-like athleticism. The act of running, however, returns to and exposes Frink’s ideas of vulnerability, leaving the viewer questioning if the figure is running towards or fleeing from something. The exposed flesh and textured surface implies a certain contained energy and fragility inherent to human nature.

Constructing her figures in Plaster of Paris, Frink could work quickly to capture a fleeting moment in time, adding layers of mixed, gritty plaster and then re-working the material with axes, chisels and sandpaper. As such, the surfaces appear more fluid, enhancing the dynamism with their irregular shapes and shadows reacting and shifting dramatically in different lights. Annette Ratuszniak highlights this vivacity in Frink’s sculptures, noting that this three-dimensionality not only compels one to view her sculptures in their entirety, but also offers a physical perception of these figures truly ‘being’ in a space.

The present work resonates closely with Auguste Rodin’s celebrated bronze L’homme qui marche, circa 1890s. An early stimulus on her practice, Frink was drawn to Rodin’s modern aptitude to capture the autonomous body in motion. Despite appearing firmly grounded with both feet, the strong twisting torso balanced atop wide set legs appears to push forwards and transfer the robust physique forwards into space. With this, Rodin illustrates how the traditional representation of the body appears secondary to the latent energy within the human figure. He states, ‘It is not my walking man itself that interests me, rather the thought of how far he has come and how far he has yet to cover. This art, through suggestion, purposely extends beyond the figure sculptured’ (A. Rodin, quoted in C. Winner (ed.), Elisabeth Frink: Humans and Other Animals, Norwich, 2018, pp. 41-42).

Earlier depictions of falling or wounded male figures were strongly influenced by Frink’s experiences growing up during the Second World War. Surrounded by brave military soldiers such as her much-admired father, as well as witnessing frequent plane crashes and air raids, this body of work associated her with sculptors Henry Moore, Lynn Chadwick, and Reg Butler alongside the Geometry of Fear group. A somewhat romanticised view of men at war contrasts with these artists who personally witnessed the horrors of the front-line, and Frink’s self-proclaimed optimistic approach to life consequently led her figures to be reimagined with a sense of hope. Much like Frink’s In Memoriam head series, Running Man (Front Runner) is imbued with stoicism, his upright stance is confident, his wide eyes contemplative and he is free from any suffering he may have once endured.

Running Man (Front Runner) was commissioned by W.H. Smith for the company's headquarters in Swindon, Wiltshire.

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