Elisabeth Frink Book Lab

The Hauser & Wirth Book & Printed Matter Lab is a project devoted to exploring the important place that books and prints occupy in the practice of artists. Building upon Hauser & Wirth’s curatorial and publishing activities, the Lab presents thematic installations, displays, and programming that invite reflection, creative thinking, and further conversation about the world of printed matter and its connection to artists’ ideas and objectives.

This special edition of the Book & Printed Matter Lab is dedicated to Elisabeth Frink. It takes ‘Soldiers Head IV’ (1965) as the starting point for a selection of objects and printed matter to demonstrate an insight into the artist’s working methods.

It is not uncommon to find books and manuals on the process of sculpture in artists’ studios, and whilst the processes and materials artists choose to use may vary considerably, some casting methods have remained the same for centuries.

‘Soldier’s Head IV’ (1965) is the plaster form first made by Elisabeth Frink before the bronze sculpture, seen in the exhibition ‘Elisabeth Frink. Transformation’. Not only did Frink work with plaster in a very specific way, embodying her own creative process, but the process of casting in bronze also became a creative process for her, often she would use chemicals to create different coloured patinations.

In this display you will find examples to show all of the stages that are followed to make a bronze cast of a sculpture. You are invited to explore this Book and Printed Matter Lab to find out more about the sculptor’s processes, how they are documented, and to handle and examine the samples on display.