Following the unveiling of Frink’s Horse and Rider in Bond Street, I looked up her association with the Royal Academy, knowing that it has had a bad track record in electing female artists, as Mary Beard pointed out in her speech at the annual dinner. But, interestingly, Frink was elected as an Associate in October 1971, when she was only just 40, a full RA in 1977, and was given a retrospective of her work in spring 1985 (admission price £1.50). It is said that, had she not died aged 62, she would have been a candidate to be President. So, the institution was not quite as dyed-in-the-wool prejudiced as it’s sometimes depicted.
Nevertheless it has, historically, a very bad record. It is beginning to put things right with Tracey Emin as Professor of Painting and several very good women artists running the Schools, not to mention Tacita Dean and Phyllida Barlow.
Yes, I don’t dispute the verdict. Charles