A Seller's Guide to Elisabeth Frink

While primarily celebrated for her sculptures, Frink was also an accomplished printmaker, beginning with lithography in the 1960s. Frink's printmaking career paralleled her sculptural work, expanding on similar themes and featuring her characteristic angular, rough-hewn figures and animal forms. Her unique ability to convey complex emotions through stark, expressive forms has consistently captivated collectors, leading to a steady increase in interest in recent years.

Elisabeth Frink prints vary significantly in value, influenced by factors such as rarity, condition, subject matter, and provenance. Her lithographs and etchings typically range from £1,000 to £10,000 at auction. Frink's early lithographs from the 1950s and 1960s, particularly those that accompanied her iconic Goggle Head series of sculptures and the falling and spinning men she created in response to World War II, are highly sought after. Her Green Man prints from the 1970s also attract considerable interest, often selling in the £5,000 to £8,000 range. In 2014, three Green Man plates sold for £7,000 at Christie’s London.

Animal subjects, a recurring theme in Frink's work, are popular among collectors. Her horse prints, reflecting her lifelong fascination with these animals, typically sell for £3,000 to £7,000. Bird of prey images, another Frink staple, can fetch similar prices; for example, two individual etchings from Frink’s Six Owls series (1977) sold for £7,500 each in 2017. Dogs were another favourite animal of Frink’s, with the rough and expressive Dog (1988) auctioned at Bonhams for £5,500 in March 2024. Frink’s highest-value auction sale to date was a complete portfolio of her Eight Animals series of lithographs, which sold for £9,500 at Bonham’s, London, in 2020.

Other popular works by Frink include her illustrative accompaniments to popular mythical texts. The Odyssey (1974) and The Canterbury Tales (1972) are both sought after.

Limited edition sizes impact value significantly; a factor that works in the favour of Frink collectors. Frink often produced editions of as few as 25, 50, or 70, ensuring that her work always reaps the rewards of scarcity. Printer's proofs and artist's proofs, being even rarer, sell for the most.

As with all art, provenance is crucial. Prints with a clear history, especially those from notable collections or with exhibition history, can achieve higher prices. When authenticating a Frink print, several steps can be taken to ensure its legitimacy.

Firstly, consult the Elisabeth Frink catalogue raisonné, which documents her known works. This comprehensive resource can help verify if your print matches a recorded edition. Elisabeth Frink: Original Prints Catalogue Raisonné by Caroline Wiseman, published in 1998, is the most comprehensive printed catalogue of Frink’s prints; while copies of this book can be purchased, they will also be available with most reputable galleries and in the possession of specialist brokers. The Frink Estate and Archive, now housed at the Dorset History Centre after being gifted to the nation by her son, Lin Jammet, is also an invaluable resource, offering expert knowledge and authentication services, helping you protect your investment. The paper quality and printing technique should be consistent with Frink's known practices. She often used high-quality, textured papers for her lithographs and etchings. Any watermarks or printer's marks can provide additional verification.

Authentication is a complex process. Given the variability in Frink’s print market, professional appraisal is recommended for accurate valuation. Consult an appraiser directly, or speak to an auction house specialist with expertise in 20th-century British art, to gain an authoritative opinion on your print. They may use techniques like ultraviolet light examination to detect any signs of tampering or restoration.

Edition and Signature

Examining Frink’s signature on your print is simpler than with many of her contemporaries because her signature style remained fairly consistent throughout her career. Her signature is typically found in pencil below the image, often written as "D. Frink" or just “Frink.” To verify authenticity, familiarise yourself with examples of her signature from confirmed genuine prints. Edition numbers, usually written as a fraction (e.g., 15/75), are another key feature to examine. These indicate the print's place in the edition and can provide valuable information about its rarity and potential value.

Browse Elisabeth Frink prints on the Trading Floor and find out more about the print market growth on the MAB100 Print Index.

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The market for Frink's prints has shown steady growth since her death in 1993. A notable surge occurred following the major retrospective at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in 2018-2019, which reignited interest in her work. Following significant events like this can help you make a decision when the time comes to sell. Equally, it’s important to track the auction results of Frink’s original sculptures as well as her prints. When Frink’s Running Man (Front Runner) (1986) sold for £1.1million in 2022, the print market also experienced a boost.

Auction houses, such as Christie’s, Bonhams, and Phillips will regularly publish their auction results and value trajectory reports. Check in with these regularly to identify when Frink prints are selling above estimate, as this suggests demand is high amongst collectors.

MyArtBroker offers advanced art tech tools to help you determine the optimal time to sell. Our MyPortfolio service features an AI-powered value indicator that provides real-time valuations of individual prints based on both public and private sales data. Combined with our complimentary valuations, we can help ensure your print achieves maximum value by selling at the perfect moment.

At MyArtBroker, our specialists provide a free market valuation for your artwork, offering a level of transparency unmatched in today’s market. In addition to our valuations, through our online Trading Floor, you can access real-time insights into works by the artist you’re looking to sell, including pieces that are most in demand, wanted, or currently for sale: allowing sellers to trust the valuation that they are provided.

Additionally, the MyPortfolio collection management service grants you free access to our comprehensive print market database. This resource allows you to review auction histories for the specific work you’re looking to sell, including hammer prices, values paid, and seller returns. In a fluctuating market, this historical data is invaluable - and often comes at a cost elsewhere - offering insights into past and current values to further inform decisions based on market timing and conditions. In addition to our specialists guidance, you have concrete data.

Our approach is tailored to align with the unique attributes of each artwork, and offer optimal results:

How a Private Sale Works

Unlike peer-to-peer platforms, which lack specialised expertise, authenticity guarantees, and legal infrastructure for high-value sales, MyArtBroker operates through private sales ensuring a secure and seamless transaction process. We charge sellers 0% to sell, and take a small commission from our buyers, absorbing essential aspects including insurance, shipping, and marketing - at no extra cost to the seller. There is no magic to it, we’re a lean specialised business with less overheads than traditional models meaning we can do better for our clients.

Our revenue is derived from buyer commissions only, which are individually negotiated upon offer, and we aim to give the client the best return in the market place. By focusing on high-value artworks in excess of £10,000, we provide specialised care and expertise, ensuring each piece receives the attention it deserves, while simultaneously maximising returns with our clients. For works that fall below this threshold speak to the team about a recommendation, we offer market advisory free of charge. Our goal at MyArtBroker is to offer a seamless solution, setting us apart in the art market.

Advisory and Recommendations

In cases for artists and artworks, where our existing network of collectors isn’t the best fit due to value, medium or condition we collaborate with reputable partners to facilitate its sale. Carefully tailoring your artwork to the right party. This tailored approach is especially important as it considers the unique attributes of each artwork, providing sellers with the best possible outcome in today’s shifting art market. You can discuss this approach with us without charge as part of our advisory service.

Such recommendations are on a case-by-case basis, and ensures broader exposure and takes advantage of our knowledge of where a work will do best.

In addition to our live trading floor, MyArtBroker's MyPortfolio serves as a collection management system, empowering collectors to curate and oversee their prints and editions collection. This feature grants users access to our print market database, uniquely tied to our proprietary algorithm, SingularityX. This algorithm scans and analyses both public auction and private sales data to determine real time valuations of individual print works, factoring in various aspects such as condition, colour, and other factors affecting value.

Read What Powers MyArtBroker's Technology? In Conversation With Stuart Jamieson, Financial Quant to learn more about our algorithm.

Emerging art tech tools are vital in navigating the current, and evolving, digital art market landscape. For instance, by adding Elisabeth Frink prints from our website to the MyPortfolio dashboard, users gain insight into unique sale opportunities and observe market performance and fluctuations as they happen, streamlining the sales process effortlessly. Our pioneering technology has revolutionised art portfolio management, making it more accessible and equipping users with data-driven insights for informed decisions. MyArtBroker harnesses cutting-edge technology driven by data, coupled with a team of industry experts, to deliver an exceptional experience. Our professionals work closely with clients, utilising the MyPortfolio dashboard, to provide personalised guidance for creating a profitable art collection. By merging technology and expertise, we are committed to offering unparalleled curation and customer service.