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

Midas Head

Details

Dame Elisabeth Frink, R.A. (1930-1993)
Midas Head
signed and numbered 'Frink 6/10' (on the reverse)
bronze with a green patina
11¼ in. (28.5cm.) high, excluding base
Conceived and cast in 1989.

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 15 July 2008, lot 201, where purchased by the present owner.

Literature

E. Lucie-Smith, Elisabeth Frink Sculpture since 1984, and Drawings, London, 1994, no. SC46, p. 59, another cast illustrated.
E. Lucie-Smith and E. Frink, Frink A Portrait, London, 1994, p. 74, the plaster illustrated.

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Lot Essay

'The Midas Head, made as an emblem for the television programme The Midas Touch, presented by Anthony Sampson and produced by Frink's step-son Mick Csáky, is one of the few examples of a work where she seems to have been influenced by Henry Moore. As in Moore's Helmet Heads, Frink integrates the head and what covers it, the body and its carapace. The hollowness of the miser's ambition is symbolised by the hollow helmet which is also his head. The dark void within can be perceived through the empty eyesockets. It is, however, in keeping with its original function, a rather stylised, decorative work. It is clear that Frink wanted to create something which was immediately recognisable as soon as it appeared' (see E. Lucie-Smith, op. cit, p. 58).

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