Owner: Ulster Bank

Location: Shaftesbury Square

Title: Flying Figures (unique casts)

Artist: Dame Elisabeth Frink

Material: Cast Aluminium

Size: Larger Than Life Size

Funded by: Ulster Bank

Background: This work was commissioned by Ulster Bank in 1961 for its premises at the corner of Great Victoria Street and Dublin Road looking out on Shaftesbury Square. Then aged 31,Elisabeth Frink came to Belfast to view the site and consider her approach to the commission. The completed work was installed on the high panel wall of the bank under Frink’s supervision in June 1964.Representing figures in flight and locally named "Draft and Overdraft", Frink’s forms defy categorisation and merge human, bird and animal characteristics.

Artists Details: Elisabeth Frink (1930-1993) was born at Thurlow in Sussex and trained at Guildford and the Chelsea School of Art under Bernard Meadows. Her early work was influenced by Moore and Giacometti , angular and menacing bronze figures with touches of Surrealism(e.g. Horizontal Bird Man,bronze,1964),like the use of goggles on her Algerian war heads. From the 1960’s her work became smoother and more direct with a concentration on horses(e. g. Rolling Over Horse,1972)and male figures. She used exaggerated modelling and anatomy to try to express the inner spirit of the subject. She increasingly worked on public commissions (e. g. Walking Madonna for Salisbury Cathedral). She lived in Dorset, and became a Dame in 1982.In 1985 she was given a Royal Academy retrospective.