Dame Elisabeth Frink; British Sculptor

Dame Elisabeth Frink, whose powerful sculptures made her one of Britain’s most celebrated artists, has died of cancer at her home in southern England, her assistant said. She was 62.

Dame Elisabeth died Sunday at her home in Woolland, Blandford Forum, Dorset County, said Brooke Stanford. She underwent surgery for cancer of the esophagus last year, he said.

Frink’s massive male figures and naturalistic sculptures of horses and dogs brought her early fame. She was made a member of the prestigious Royal Academy in 1977.

Her sculptures stand at the Kennedy Memorial in Dallas, at Salisbury Cathedral and Coventry Cathedral, in London’s Piccadilly area, and at Manchester Airport.

Her early figures of flying and falling men stem from childhood memories of World War II, and she conveyed torture and state tyranny in sculptures she made for Amnesty International in the 1970s.

Frink was made a Commander of the British Empire, or CBE, in 1969 and made a dame, the women’s equivalent of a knight, in 1982. Last June, Queen Elizabeth II made her a Companion of Honor, an award conferred for conspicuous national service.