With the exception of the fascinating recent blog about our conservator creating protective packaging for the wonderful plaster maquettes, it has been a while since we updated you about the exciting project to catalogue the archive of the renowned sculptor, Dame Elisabeth Frink. This collection was provided to Dorset History Centre in accordance with the wishes of the artist’s late son, Lin Jammet. The collection consists of approximately 110 boxes of varied material, the majority of which are paper based records (correspondence, business records, catalogues and books) and photographs (including professional photography of Frink and her work, as well as a considerable amount of material taken by the family). Archivist David Johnston-Smith started work in the autumn to catalogue this material.
We are now nearly two thirds of the way through the year-long project. The current public health crisis has clearly had a very direct impact on our ability to access and work with the collection in recent months, and David has instead spent his time working remotely on the electronic catalogue, which currently features around 2000 separate items. We have now catalogued around 60% of the total and have recently been able to access parts of the collection again, and restart cataloguing. What remains to be worked on is largely photographic material, and back in March a team of volunteers had just been appointed to assist staff with the sorting, listing and repackaging of some of the photographs. It is still hoped that, in time, these enthusiastic volunteers who are keen to put their talents to good use and learn new skills while they do, can be used to assist in completing the initial cataloguing project.
The current focus of work is a series of ten boxes of photographs of all of the Frink sculptures. In the most recent, and first complete, catalogue raisonné (2013 – edited by Annette Ratuszniak, former curator to the Frink Estate, and who has been heavily involved in the project here at Dorset History Centre) there are 402 main works listed (along with another 6 miscellaneous pieces). There is an entry on the catalogue for every piece, and these are listed along with their current reference number in the catalogue and any previous reference numbers also associated with them. In the attached picture you can see a selection of the pictures, transparencies and slides of Easter Head I (1989) that are included in these boxes.
Adding relevant catalogue numbers and other important metadata into the archive catalogue at this stage will greatly assist future users of the collection. Photographs in this series include pictures of Frink working on plasters in the studio, as well as professional pictures of the sculpture that would have been used in exhibition catalogues and resultant publicity material. Wherever possible, any relevant copyright information is also captured in the catalogue.
As we approach the final straight of this cataloguing project, we will return in due course to tell you more about how to access and enjoy the Frink archive. Keep watching our social media, newsletters and blogs for more information.
I would like to put on record that in 1980 when we were setting up the Island of Portland Heritage Trust and the companion organisation The Royal Manor Workshops we invited Elizabeth Frink to be our patron. She accepted and became a very loyal supporter attending any and every exhibition or function we held and inviting our members to visit her home and workshop. We really appreciated her support and encouragement in those early days, forty years later both organsiations are still flourishing.
Thank you. Is there any evidence of Dame Elisabeth making resin casts of her works for her own collection. Was a resin cast ever created of Easter Head 1 ?