Easter Head I
Easter Head I (1989) speaks to Elisabeth Frink’s fascination with the male form, as seen in her series of male busts. Her interest in this subject began during World War Two. Living nearby to an airfield in Suffolk, she became aware of male bombers, and especially the captivating glamour of the soldiers' uniforms as well as the wider paraphernalia of war.
The outsized heads and torsos sculpted by Frink speak to an archetypal and impersonal grandeur. The bulkiness of Easter Head I – created by a shallow brow and thick lips – are in keeping with her many oversized male forms, speaking to a self-described preoccupation with ‘thuggishness’. Meanwhile, the fixed stare contributes to a stoic expression, with its associations of spirituality that can be interpreted in relation to the title and the wider significance of religion to the artist.
