Latest news with #ElisabethFrink
BBC News
a day ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Dorset sculptor Elisabeth Frink's only mosaic to go to auction
A mosaic by a famous sculptor is set to go on sale at work by Dame Elisabeth Frink, who died in 1993, once adorned the swimming pool of Woolland House, her country estate in is part of the collection of dealer Ken Bolan, which will go on sale at Sworders fine art auctioneers on 24 September. It is thought to be the only mosaic she ever created, and among the largest pieces of work she ever made, Sworders said. The collection, titled Ken Bolan: Nature Follows Form, features 400 lots from the dealer, who has been buying and selling antiques for more than 50 said many of the items going on sale come with their own stories, including an 18th-century polychrome painted Danish cupboard dating back to Bolan said it was "dear to my heart", because it came up for auction just as he had built an extension to his family home."It was going to dominate the room so the whole family looked at it and we all decided that 'yes, we liked it'," he said. The dealer said he had a "close friendship" with Frink, whom he called "Lis", having first met her when she visited his shop in Bath in 1986."'At that time, I had just begun buying Swedish painted furniture which she absolutely adored," he said."Over the next few months, after discovering my old brewery in Gillingham, she bought numerous painted items from me, and we developed a close friendship."After Frink died in 1993, Mr Bolan helped her son sell the furnishings from the estate. After that, he bought The Money and the Dolphin mosaic, which Frink had designed circa estimated it would sell for between £300,000 and £500,000. You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Telegraph
29-06-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Grade I listed? Liverpool's ghastly cathedral should never have been built at all
However, by the 1990s, when the building was barely 25 years old, the cheapness of its construction had made it a liability. An extensive and expensive programme of renovation began. That was probably the last opportunity to pull the thing down and return to the Lutyens plan (which Rome itself could have helped fund). To have done so would have created huge numbers of skilled jobs for decades, and made Liverpool a place of religious and artistic pilgrimage. But it was not to be. Those who praise the Wigwam – and they have been out in force since its new listing – often argue that much of its merit lies in its interior, notably some John Piper stained glass, and a crucifix by Elisabeth Frink. Pevsner otherwise laments that the original 'harmony' of the abstract art that Gibberd wanted in the building has been compromised by much more traditional works that have arrived since. I fear the main consequence of the Grade I listing will be to preserve a monument to the ugliness of the 1960s, perhaps as a warning to architects and their patrons in the indefinite future. One can only imagine how people in 500 years' time will view the Wigwam: if it can manage to stand that long.
