That Part Of The Montague Shopping Centre Which Is The Desert Quartet Sculptures With Supporting Loggia, Alexander Terrace

That part of the Montague Shopping Centre which is the Desert Quartet sculptures with supporting loggia, Alexander Terrace

The Desert Quartet is a major public artwork completed in 1989, comprising four monumental cast bronze male heads by the renowned sculptor Dame Elisabeth Frink, mounted on square bronze pedestals and supported by a classical loggia designed by architect Graham Excell.

The four cast bronze heads are approximately 1.5 metres high, each mounted on 2-metre high square bronze pedestals. Although unified in form and design, each head is unique in its features and expression. The heads have a textured surface characteristic of Frink's method of carving and modelling a plaster former before casting in bronze. The neck or shoulder line of each sculpture projects beyond the pedestal line. The heads are bolted to their pedestals, which are in turn bolted onto the loggia beneath.

The loggia is constructed in stucco, painted, with three bays divided by rectangular piers with moulded capitals. Each bay is subdivided by baseless Doric columns. A moulded entablature runs below the flat roof on which the Desert Quartet is arranged. The rear (east) elevation features banded rustication and flat piers with similar mouldings. The ceiling is decorated in recessed panels with moulded details. A yellow brick wall at first floor level behind the sculptures features a low string course and flat piers positioned behind each head, with slight projecting rectangular brick panels arranged in groups of three between the heads.

In the mid-1980s, a new shopping centre was designed for Worthing with particular regard for the historical sensitivity of the Liverpool Street Gardens façade. The architect Graham Excell was engaged to design the scheme, and in 1985 the possibility of bespoke sculpture for the façade was discussed with Elisabeth Frink, who expressed her enthusiasm for the commission. Her initial designs comprised a combination of human and animal figures, then four monumental horses, but these were abandoned partly due to Frink's growing frailty, in favour of the anthropomorphic Desert Quartet. The work was inspired by ancient monuments the sculptor had visited in the Tunisian desert and possesses classical monumentality. The loggia was constructed in 1988-9 and the sculpture installed in 1989. The Montague Centre opened in June 1990, when the sculptures were formally unveiled. Elisabeth Frink attended and expressed her contentment with the result.

Dame Elisabeth Frink (1930-1993) was an artist of international repute, celebrated as both a printmaker and sculptor. She studied at Guildford School of Art and Chelsea School of Art in the 1940s and 1950s, subsequently teaching at Chelsea, St Martin's School of Art and the Royal College of Art. She was elected to the Royal Academy in 1977, made a Dame of the British Empire in 1982, and received numerous awards and honorary doctorates. Her first solo exhibition was in 1955; her first major public commission, 'Boar' for Harlow New Town, came in 1957. That same year she began 'Blind Beggar and Dog' for the Cranbrook Estate housing scheme in Bethnal Green, a Grade II* listed sculpture. Frink accepted numerous public commissions, fascinated by the relationship between art and public spaces. Her work is held in major collections including Tate Modern and has been the subject of numerous exhibitions and retrospectives.

Her sculptural work was dominated by zoomorphic designs—often dogs, horses or birds—and the male form, either as figures or heads. Frink explained that "Heads have always been very important to me as vehicles for sculpture. A head is infinitely variable. It's complicated, and it's extremely emotional. Everyone's emotions are in their face. It's not surprising that there are sculptures of massive heads going way back, or that lots of other artists beside myself have found the subject fascinating." The Desert Quartet is one of her last public works and represents the pinnacle of her exploration of this theme.