Soldier's Head I

Comparing Elisabeth Frink's series of warrior heads from the 1950s with the soldiers heads of the 1960s, of which Soldier's Head I is a prime example, Bryan Robertson writes: 'As a woman, not so deeply indoctrinated by the ideals of macho heroism ... [Frink] became more sceptical about the spirit of the nobility of conquest. By 1964 the warriors have been demoted to soldiers and have left the realms of classical mythology to join us in the twentieth century. The warriors had glorified the struggle to defeat Nazi oppression, whereas the soldiers epitomize the brutalizing stupidity of war. With them the traditional warrior stereotype has mutated into a more complex and original personality.

Several thick-set and brutish heads present the faces of our contemporaries. Their heavy jaws, cruel mouths, broken noses and cauliflower ears make it plain that these men are not heroes and that, unlike their idealized classical counterparts, nobility, honour and courage are foreign to their natures. They are merely tools, their helmets merging with their skulls to imply total identification with their roles. Low foreheads, flattened brow ridges, piggy eyes or empty sockets convey the numbness of shell-shock or brain damage. Their punch-drunk, almost catatonic stares suggest they have been used as cannon fodder and exposed to the full force of enemy aggression' (B. Robertson, op. cit., p.59).