Dame Elisabeth Frink, R.A. (1930-1993)

The present work is a maquette for the larger Eagle commissioned in 1986 at the Eagle Squadron Association Memorial in Grosvenor Square, London. Eagle Squadron referred to American airmen who crossed the Atlantic to fight with the R.A.F. in World War II.

The present work was gifted to Mary Carswell by Evelyn Nef (1913-2009), Mary's close friend and neighbour in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Nef was an author, lecturer, patron of the arts, philanthropist, Arctic explorer and psychotherapist. With her husband John Ulrich Nef, she introduced the late Eleanor and William Wood Prince to Marc Chagall, a meeting that resulted in the commission of the Four Seasons mosaic wall at the First National Bank Plaza (now Chase Bank). Professor Nef, who had also taught at the College de France, was a collector of art by Picasso, Miró, Derain, Dufy and Chagall. As a wedding present for the couple, Chagall created a wall mosaic for their Georgetown garden, which was the only Chagall mosaic in private hands.