Risen Catalogue - Monnow Valley Arts Centre

Works from the Methodist Modern Art Collection1Elisabeth Frink(1930–1993)Pietà 1956Black ink, wash and watercolour, 85 × 68 cmSigned, inscribed and datedThe Pieta (Lamentation), normally portrayed as the sorrowingVirgin alone (or with other mourners) with the body of her deadson, is a subject for devotional meditation rather than a strictportrayal of the biblical narrative. In these terms, Elisabeth Frink’sdrawing is of the Deposition rather than a Pietà. The dead Jesus isshown, still crowned with thorns, after Joseph of Arimathaea hastaken his body down from the Cross but before wrapping him inthe linen cloth and placing him in the sepulchre or tomb. Jesus isshown as if propped up against a rock, with his right armextended upwards as it would be if Joseph were placing him gentlyin a sitting position on the ground.Elisabeth Frink commented: ‘I think I did a lot of drawingsthat were all entitled “Pieta” which, to me, has nothing to do withwhether the Virgin Mary was represented or not. Why should shealways be in a Pieta? These are details of the Christ from a “Pieta”– he is obviously dead and in a recumbent position. I wouldnot call it a “Deposition” because he is not being lifted downby anybody.’The drawings have much in common with the sculptures inthe sense that they have the same power and strength. ‘I amincapable of making little drawings. I always draw big ... I attackthe paper with large sweeping forms ...’ It is certainly true thatboth the Methodist Pieta and a similar work dating from twoyears later (currently in the collection of the Marquess ofAberdeen and Temair) have great strength and power, for thefigures are massive and overflow from the sheet of paper.4