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GUARANTEEING POSTERITY FOR HANNAH FRANK

I had an exciting and illuminating meeting with Alice Strang, Senior Curator at Scottish National Galleries earlier this month. Alice (pictured below with me at Glasgow Uni Chapel) has been a good friend to us and made a beautiful speech at the opening of the 110th birthday exhibition last year. My question to her was: “All these paintings on your walls by artists who died 100 years ago; what did those artists’ nieces have to do back then to ensure that the art would live on and feature in future exhibitions?”

Her response? "It’s time to ensure that we get as much of Hannah Frank's work as possible into public collections. Now is a really a good time for women artists' work to be considered by curators with responsibility for national and regional collections,” she said.

My aunt's work is, of course, already featured in collections in Scotland and further afield. There’s a drawing in the Scottish National Gallery, two in the Hunterian Gallery at Glasgow University, three drawings and some book plates at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, a bronze sculpture and the corresponding plaster cast at the Glasgow School of Art, a bronze at the Maclaurin Gallery in Ayr, a drawing and a bronze sculpture at Lancaster University, a drawing at the Ben Uri Gallery in London, and a drawing at Flinders University Australia.

But we could do more.

Three of the four fabulous Glasgow University History of Art students who worked with me on the Creative Scotland funded 110th birthday exhibition are still at the university and keen to be involved in the project to ‘guarantee Hannah Frank’s contribution to posterity’. We hope to spend one more year putting together a rather spectacular exhibition which will include 'creative responses to Hannah Frank's Work' in a variety of media - and then we plan to put Alice's concrete suggestions and recommendations into practice.

Promise Bequest

My lovely mum Phyllis Frank, who died in October at the age of 93, eventually became a great fan of my aunt's art. When she first moved in with my father, a GP in Preston, Lancashire, as a young 21 year old, she hated the original drawings on display. Her memory was of “These weird things on the wall, frightening the life out of me!” The drawings were relegated to the garage, an act which incurred Auntie Hannah's wrath on her next visit. They were taken back to Glasgow, got exhibited, and were much admired. As my mum got older, and as the drawings became more well-known, she came to appreciate them. It was too late and we never got the originals back. But we did have a full set of signed prints, mostly in my father's waiting room where they were (usually) admired by patients. After my father died, the prints had pride of place in my mum's living room in her flat in St Anne’s.

Alice suggested a 'promise bequest'. You donate a piece of art to a museum or gallery, which you can enjoy during your lifetime and which they then collect on your death - the best of both worlds. The original Hannah Frank works that I inherited - and a couple more which I have purchased along the way - will eventually be donated to public collections, through the Art Fund, in memory of my mother and of my father, Hannah's brother Dr S.L. Frank.

Above: Woman with birds (1947), Girl at Window (1952), Dance (1950) Spring Frieze (1945)

RAISING THE FUNDS

There is a cost for a museum to preserve art for posterity. All proceeds from sales of Hannah Frank signed prints from now on will go directly towards the process of cataloguing and documenting my aunt's works, coordinating and curating exhibitions and projects to promote her art, improving the website, and, most importantly, ensuring her legacy. Please consider buying one or more of the signed prints - for yourself or as a gift for a friend - to help with this important work. Our Buy One Get One Free offer still stands, the less expensive print being free - so you can buy a present for a friend, get one for yourself free, AND help to keep Hannah Frank's work in the public eye for the foreseeable future all at the same time. .

Signed prints we have left (all pictured in this newsletter) include ‘Dance’ (£300), ‘Flight’ (£400), ‘Woman and Trees’ (£200), ‘Night’ (£100), ‘Moon Ballet’ (£200), ‘Spring Frieze’ (£100), ‘In thoughts from the visions of the night’, ‘Girl at Window’, ‘Job’, ‘Woman with Birds’ (all £100). We also have one or two copies of ‘Dream’ (£300) and ‘Two Heads’ (£400) – and ONE signed copy of ‘Garden’ (£400).

Woman and trees (1931), Flight (1939), Garden (1932) and Moon Ballet (1934)

Unsigned prints - ‘Sun’, ‘Mocking Fairy’, and ‘Dusty Answer’ - are also available at £25.

Go to the website gallery https://hannahfrank.org.uk/pages/galleryimages/ to order yours OR just email me with your requirements and pay by PayPal to fionafrank@googlemail.com'. Prints ordered this week should get to you for Christmas or Chanukah.

You can also buy a copy of the book ‘Hannah Frank, a Glasgow artist’, post free at the reduced price of £10.

And recasts of many of her sculptures are available to purchase - contact me for details.

Night (1930), Dream (1952), Two heads (1950), Sun (1943)

Dusty Answer (1930) , Mocking Fairy (1931)

HANNAH INCLUDED IN NEW HERITAGE BOOK

A new guidebook to the heritage of South Glasgow has just been published by the South Glasgow Heritage and Environment Trust (SGHET).
“Hannah Frank features as a local person of significance on our Gorbals and Govanhill trails,” Saskia McCracken, researcher and archivist for the Trust told us. SGHET, a volunteer-led charity, already points people towards our website as a resource and to have Hannah included in the book will be a real honour.
Hannah’s drawing, ‘Flight’ from 1939 and her bronze sculpture, ‘Seated Figure’, from 1989, feature in the guidebook.
The trails include: Govan, Gorbals, Govanhill & Crosshill, Langside, Battlefield & Mount Florida, Shawlands, Strathbungo & Crossmyloof, Pollokshaws & Pollok Park and Pollokshields.
Copies, at £10 each, are available for pre-order before the official launch in the New Year and can be found here.

HANNAH FRANK NOMINATED FOR "GREATEST GLASWEGIAN" STATUS

The Evening Times newspaper, Glasgow, ran a public vote to name the person who has most firmly put Glasgow on the world map. They nominated 50 men and women from various walks of life such as politics, the arts, business, entertainment, science and sport – and Hannah was among them!

“The artist and sculptor overcame bigotry and prejudice growing up in the Gorbals, where she suffered from the sexism which dictated Jewish girls should not be given higher education,” wrote Ann Fotheringham in the newspaper in July. She added: “Hannah Frank is considered one of Scotland’s most significant artists.”

Other nominees included architect and artist, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Jim Kerr, lead singer of Simple Minds, and Donald Dewar, Scottish politician and inaugural First Minister of Scotland. The initiative ran for several months. The much-loved comedian, Billy Connolly, was eventually named the ‘greatest Glaswegian’ in November by the public vote.

WIKIMEDIA – THE IMPORTANCE OF HANNAH FRANK’S SCULPTURE RECORDED

Art UK is currently making a record of all the drawings and sculpture held in public collections around the UK. You can see the page they have started about Hannah Frank here and more about their work and how you can get involved here. Art UK’s ambitious project aims to transform the way people learn about their sculpture heritage. The three-year project focuses on sculpture dating from the last 1,000 years that’s held in public collections and outdoor locations across the UK. Prior to the project, many of these works, which total around 100,000, were without records, images or online access, and many public monuments are not fully recorded and are at risk.

Art UK discovered that on Wikipedia there is a lack of information available about women sculptors. Sarah Harmon, Project Officer at Art UK, based at Scotland Street School Museum, teamed up with Wikimedia UK and the University of Glasgow Library to present an Edit-a-thon aimed at redressing this imbalance. Sarah, together with Lydia Figes, Art UK content creator, included Hannah Frank and four examples of her sculptures. two of our three Glasgow Uni students - Lilith Didier and Sylvie Rowland - played an important part in the day.

“Sylvie and Lilith [pictured above, second and third from right] presented the Hannah Frank Archive beautifully - both the content and their interpretation were eloquent and a highlight of the event,” Sarah told us. “Our attendees were also impressed, and particularly enjoyed being able to get a close look at the sculptures and cast. The value both the presentation and artworks brought to the event is considerable, as attendees learned how an artist and their estate can be managed and presented both physically and online. I hope to find opportunity to work with Lilith and Sylvie again - so thank you for involving them.” See the beautifully presented page here.

LIMMUD SCOTLAND

Sylvie and Lilith also ran a creative workshop for children and families based around the work of Hannah Frank at this year’s Scotland Limmud. Held in Edinburgh in November and attracting more than 250 participants and over 30 performers, this year’s Scotland Limmud, the first held in Scotland’s capital city, had a full programme for children and young people to accompany its vibrant and varied mainstream programme.

IN MEMORIAM: BILL LAUGHLIN

Regular readers will know that we had a long and fruitful business relationship with the wonderful Bill Laughlin from 2canvas, the framing and printing firm, in Glasgow. He spent many years making reproductions of Hannah Frank prints on canvas as well as exhibiting them in the shop in Stockwell Street. Bill sadly died after a short illness this year. We thank him for all his hard work over the years and send our sincere condolences to his friends, family and customers. Here’s Bill back in 2007 with my aunt Hannah Frank at Westacres with a canvas reproduction of ‘Mocking Fairy'.

RETIREMENT OF GORDON McCRACKEN FRAMING - AND WELCOME SOUTHSIDE GALLERIES

Gordon McCracken worked with us as a framer since 2008 when he helped put up the Hannah Frank centenary exhibition. He must have framed hundreds of Hannah Frank prints in that time - and he trained our lovely interns in picture hanging last year when we were setting up the Hannah Frank 110th birthday exhibition. We wish him a long and happy retirement full of art and travels.
We are working with a new framer, Catherine Barton at Southside Galleries in Battlefield Road, Glasgow, following the retirement of Gordon McCracken. Visit the gallery to see lots of the prints on show.

Thank you once again for your support. Please follow us on facebook and on twitter

I wish you a very peaceful Christmas, Chanukah and 2020

best wishes
Fiona Frank (niece of the late Hannah Frank and director, Hannah Frank Art)

tel 07778 737681
fiona@hannahfrank.org.uk