An exhibition that will reveal an intimate portrait of the celebrated British sculptor Elisabeth Frink is to open at Dorset Museum in Dorchester at the beginning of December.

Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the artist's death, Elisabeth Frink: A View from Within will be the first exhibition to focus on the significant body of work produced by Frink (1930-1993) at her Woolland studio in Dorset, between 1976 and 1993.

It will explore her artistic process, personal life and the profound influences that shaped her work: human conflict and our relationship with the natural world.  

The exhibition will present works from the collection that Dorset Museum acquired from the Elisabeth Frink Estate in 2020, featuring sculptures, prints, drawings, and personal possessions.

Many of these items, including working plasters that formed the basis of Frink's bronze sculptures, will be on public show for the first time.

Arranged thematically, Elisabeth Frink: A View from Within will comprise around 80 works arranged in eight themed sections, each offering a unique perspective on Frink's life and art.

From her personal and artistic life at Woolland, to a recreation of her studio, the artist's creative methods will be explained, along with insights into her profound artistic vision.

Through her sculptures the exhibition will explore her intimate connection with the natural environment; the contemplation of human-animal interdependence; spirituality and humanist beliefs; her dedication to human rights advocacy and finally her enduring legacy.

As well as items from the Dorset Museum collection, the exhibition will include personal papers and photographs from the Frink Archive at the Dorset History Centre, and large-scale sculptures from Yorkshire Sculpture Park and The Ingram Collection of Modern British and Contemporary Art.

Elizabeth Selby, director of collections and public engagement at Dorset Museum, said: "Elisabeth Frink was an extraordinary artist who explored what it meant to be human through her work.

"This exhibition will portray Frink in a more intimate light, revealing her inner world and the major themes she explored in her sculpture, prints and drawings.

"We are thrilled to be able to display more of the works we acquired from the Elisabeth Frink Estate in 2020, and explore Frink's connections with Dorset, where she lived and worked from 1976 until her death in 1993."

Exhibition themes

Family and Social Life

'Family and Social Life' will focus on Woolland, the home Frink shared with her husband Alex Csáky.

Featuring works that show both the personal and artistic aspects of Frink's life at Woolland, this section will also include small personal objects; paintings created by friends; a book inspired by Elisabeth Frink written by her friend Michael Morpurgo; family photographs; and Seated Man (1986, loaned by Yorkshire Sculpture Park), a sculpture that Frink placed by the swimming pool, the setting for many parties.

A partial recreation of Frink's studio, complete with tools and the fragile plaster sculptures she made for casting in bronze, will provide an immersive experience.

Plasters for sculptures including Walking Man (1989) and Leonardo's Dog (1991), photographs and archive film will evoke the creative freedom that Frink enjoyed at Woolland in the privacy of her studio.

The process of creating sculptures from drawings through to the finished bronzes and her reliance on specialist foundry workers who cast and patinated her bronzes will be explained.

Printmaking

'Printmaking' will reveal the strength and fluency of Frink's approach to drawing and how this influenced her printmaking and illustrations.

A selection of original prints including Little Owl (1977) and Blue Horse Head (1988) shows how Frink mastered a number of printmaking techniques, lithography, etching and screen-printing, through collaborations with three major printmaking studios.

Book illustrations including The Children of the Gods, The Complete Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece will highlight how her art often echoed her love of poetry, music, reading and her deeply held beliefs.

Frink's studio and home enabled her to create large sculptures and to consider her work in natural light and in all seasons within the extensive grounds of Woolland and against the backdrop of the Dorset hills and vales.

My Garden is My Gallery

'My Garden is My Gallery' will show that the dialogue between her work and the natural environment deepened her feelings regarding humanity and our impact on the world. She framed both individual sculptures and groups in the spacious grounds at Woolland, with its remains of a manor house, lake, woods and sloping lawns.

Important works, including Riace III (1986, loaned by The Ingram Collection), and archive photographs will demonstrate new ways of working that became a major feature of her sculpture at this time. This section will also explore the significant public commissions from this period.

Interdependence of Species

'Interdependence of Species' will explore Frink's deep interest in the relationship between humans and animals. Woolland became a place full of sculpture, where bronze humans and animals mingled with beloved dogs, horses, sheep and chickens.

Her belief in the dependency of humans on the natural world and other species, her questioning of hierarchies that lead to injustice and acts of aggression, will be considered through her sculptures of animals, including Standing Horse (1993) and Small Standing Dog (1991), drawings and original prints.

Frink's exploration of the divide between species and its impact on the environment so far was cut short by her death. She explored the possible portent of this divide through drawing and printmaking, Man and Horse (1990), but her untimely death prevented her from taking these ideas further in sculpture.

Spirituality and Humanism

'Spirituality and Humanism' will examine Frink's art in relation to her own spiritual beliefs and her commitment to humanist ideas. Raised as a Catholic, she expressed ambivalence towards organised religion.

Letters and archive material will show how Frink was aware of the vulnerability of life and the theme of mortality was present in her work. In 1990, she was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery and treatment.

Her hope for remission so that she could see her grandson grow up became directed towards ideas of regeneration and rebirth, as expressed in her Green Man (1992) artworks.

Human Rights

Through sculptures, drawings and archive material, the 'Human Rights' section will show Frink's commitment to interrogating human rights abuses, revealing how her work gives dignity to the victims and survivors of brutality.

She strove to find ways to present the tension between vulnerability and resilience, as in her Running Man watercolour (1976, loaned by the Ingram Collection) and her contribution to Amnesty International's book Freedom (1980s).

She acknowledged that works such as Goggle Head (1969) and the Running Men (1970s and 80s) series were her most overtly political statements.

Frink's sculptural tributes to martyrs and prisoners of conscience will be a key focus of this section. On display will be Tribute III (1975) and a maquette figure for the Dorset Martyrs (1983), paying homage to all men and women who suffered for their beliefs.

New Beginnings

The final section, 'New Beginnings', honours the enduring legacy of Elisabeth Frink. Her relevance to modern-day life and world events, the influence she has had on successive generations of artists, and her continuing accessibility to a wide range of audiences will be explored through educational workshops, events and talks.

The dying wishes of her son, Lin Jammet, were that the entire Frink Estate and Archive be given to the nation, ensuring that Frink's vision of sharing her artwork within the public sphere was achieved.

This generosity resulted in a significant cultural gift to 12 public museums across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with Dorset Museum receiving more than 300 works.