Press: please contact Fiona Frank (details below) for latest information and access to high quality images and photographs.
HANNAH FRANK NEWS SEPTEMBER 2008
HAPPY HUNDREDTH BIRTHDAY 23RD AUGUST
(a copy of the monthly newsletter sent out to fans on 1st Sept 2008. Follow the tabs above for latest press releases)
Dear all,
Firstly, a big welcome to the new readers, about 100 of you, who have joined us through hearing about Hannah Frank from the fantastic press attention that she received on the occasion of her 100th birthday, the opening of the new exhibition and launch of the new book and DVD. (Please let me know if you want to come off this list - which I use to send out newsletters about Hannah Frank’s life and art).
Thanks to all the rest of you for hanging in there, for reading this and for helping to make everything happen. Please, please, please pass the website link (http://www.hannahfrank.org.uk) on to your friends all over the world – especially journalists and art critics. We have five more weeks till 11th October to make the 100th birthday exhibition at Glasgow University Chapel, the last in the five year international tour of Hannah Frank’s work, the best that Glasgow has ever seen.
You can see some photos of the celebration weekend on my blog ‘Diary of a Tyro Art Promoter’ at http://fionaathannahfrank.blogspot.com
Auntie Hannah is in great form – I’ve been so privileged to be connected with this wonderful lady and so happy that we’ve had such a wonderful celebration weekend.
Before we start – and even if you don’t have time to read the rest of this newsletter – here’s the first bit of news.
LISTEN TO RADIO CAFÉ BROADCAST THIS WEEK
Set your radio to BBC Radio Scotland, on Tuesday 2 September at 1.15 pm. Listen to it here http://www.bbc.co.uk/radioscotland/programmes if you’re based outside Scotland, and you can listen to it for up to a week after it goes out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0079myc This is an updated repeat of a fantastic full-length programme made with loving attention by Clare English three years ago. Hannah was on great form during the interview and it also includes conversations with eminent Glasgow artists talking about my aunt’s place in the art world.
HANNAH FRANK MAKES SURPRISE APPEARANCE AT PRIVATE VIEW
Right up to the last minute we were worried that my aunt wasn’t up to turning up to the private view of her 100th Birthday Exhibition at Glasgow University last weekend, so it was with great relief that I heard she was on her way with my cousin Jonathan. She and Jonathan were both fresh from their appearance on BBC Scotland the same day, which you can see, and play, on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7575008.stm
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Hannah, and the 200 or so family, friends and fans at the preview, were welcomed to the event by the Rev Stuart McQuarrie, Chaplain of Glasgow University. Andy Scott, notable Glasgow sculptor, then launched the show by talking about how he first came across Hannah’s work – when he was looking for a design for a set of gates to be erected in the Gorbals. The gates haven’t been cast – YET (watch this space! – one of our fans is hoping to launch a campaign to make this happen) – but he became a big fan of Hannah’s work, especially her sculpture, which, he said, raises the bar for any modern sculptor trying to follow in her footsteps. He presented Hannah with a portrait of his well-known metal horse (which stands on the M8 motorway) and made an amazing announcement. He had heard just that morning, that St Mungo’s Mirrorball, the network of Glasgow poets, has decided to give a Lifetime Achievement Award to Hannah Frank in recognition of her artistic achievement and lifetime commitment to the arts. Edwin Morgan was the first recipient of this award in 2006.We will bring you exciting news about the exact nature of this award very soon.
DVD AIRED AT PRIVATE VIEW
The new film by award-winning filmmaker, Sarah Thomas, ‘Hannah Frank, The Spark Divine’ was shown for the first time at the preview. Made possible by a grant from the Hadassah Brandeis Institute, Brandeis University, this “very wonderful short film”, in the words of Andy Scott, gives a fantastic flavour of Hannah now and Hannah as a young artist, using contemporary interviews and extracts from her diaries. It is available to buy in a special centenary pack, which includes a photo of Hannah as a baby, with her mother.
BOOK LAUNCHED – COMMENTS FROM A READER and SPECIAL OFFERS
At the private view Hannah signed copies of the new book ‘Hannah Frank: Footsteps on the Sands of Time, a 100th Birthday Celebration Gallimaufry’ – edited by Fiona Frank and Judith Coyle, and published by the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre in association with Kennedy and Boyd. It includes edited extracts from Hannah’s diaries, copies of letters and certificates, and articles about Hannah’s life and work. The Schools Edition includes a 20 page Teacher’s Activity pack for the primary and secondary classroom by artist and teacher Ann Marie Foster, MA, with photocopiable resources. The book is £15.95 (£17.95 for the Schools Edition).
- The first 10 art teachers who email me can receive the new book at HALF PRICE (£8.95). All I ask is that you use the resource in your schools and let me know how it went. I’ll invoice you and you can pay by cheque.
- Another special offer – when you buy a copy of ‘Footsteps’ you can also buy a copy of ‘Hannah Frank, A Glasgow Artist’ for £10 instead of the normal price of £21.50. Look for the special offer on the website.
Linda Martin, from Preston, said, “I stayed up until 1am on the Sunday, reading the new book …I could not put it down until the final chapter.”
HANNAH FRANK 100TH BIRTHDAY EXHIBITION
Just in case you didn’t know by now the exhibition runs until 11 October at The Memorial Chapel, Glasgow University. Opening times: 9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday; 12 noon - 4pm Sundays. It’s also open on the last Saturday, 11 October, from 9am -11am.
This is the final exhibition in the five year international tour of Hannah Frank’s work. See a large selection of Hannah Frank's works, many loaned from private collectors and never before exhibited, plus family sketches, and self-portraits. A special exhibition of Glasgow University Magazines from the 1920s and 30s, to which Hannah Frank contributed on many occasions, also features, and newly-discovered pastel drawings are included here for the first time.
Prints, canvases, Hannah Frank books, a DVD, and recasts of sculpture are on sale at the University’s Visitor Centre, just round the corner from the Chapel and next to the Hunterian Museum, where you can also see (and purchase) additional Hannah Frank images printed onto canvas by 2Canvas Ltd.
The exhibition has been sponsored by 'One Glasgow', a University of Glasgow initiative to promote and celebrate equality and diversity with staff, students and the local community.
For further details telephone 0141 330 5419.
Please look at and sign the Visitor’s Book at the exhibition. It is the one Hannah used in the 1960s – I first signed it at the age of 13 in 1968….
100TH BIRTHDAY LUNCH – MIRIAM MARGOLYES FLIES IN
BAFTA award winning actress Miriam Margolyes flew in directly from Chicago to meet my aunt on her birthday. She also attended the champagne lunch for family and ‘special fans’ (those who had spent more than £100 on Hannah Frank art this year!) the next day, and made a beautiful speech about Hannah’s place in the world and about the powerful energy of ALL the Frank women she’d met over the weekend! She reminded us that even though she has a southern English accent now, the voices of her childhood were all Scottish. Suddenly some of us were transported back to the ‘land of our fathers’, as she started talking first with a Glasgow accent, and then with that same voice but laced with Russian overtones – bringing back beautiful memories of long-dead ancestors for all of us with Scottish Jewish heritage. Miriam has been a long-term fan of Hannah Frank and is a patron of the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre which has published the last two Hannah Frank books.
HANNAH IN THE MEDIA
The Jewish Chronicle published a beautiful article on my aunt’s life and art by Julia Weiner last week. See it at
http://archive.thejc.com/search/reml.jsp?etaf=4560-1220133207479 The Scottish Daily Mail also published a fantastic two page spread on Hannah written by Jim McBeth. Entitled ‘Artist of the Century’, the text will be on our website in the next couple of days.
NEW CARDS AVAILABLE
Beautiful new cards of the drawings ‘Garden’, ‘Moon Ballet’, ‘Dance’, as well as the ones we’ve had for a while of ‘Sea Story’, ‘Dream’, ‘Night Forms’ and ‘Girl at Window’ are available to buy via the webshop. Cards are also available to buy at a number of other outlets including in Glasgow – Glasgow University Visitor Centre; 2Canvas Ltd, 155 Stockwell St; and Damselfly and the Queen Bee at 380 Great Western Road, Kelvinbridge. In Lancaster - Blue Bird Beads, Single Step and The Paper Gallery. In Linton in Cambridge - The Darryl Nantais Gallery.
Do you have a local card shop that would like to sell Hannah Frank cards? Generous trade discount terms available, please get in touch.
VOTE OF THANKS IN MANCHESTER
I gave a talk at the Sam Herwald JNF Social Club in Manchester last week. This is one of the biggest Jewish social organisations in the Manchester area. I was very moved when the man doing the vote of thanks, Walter Fisher, did it in a lovely Glasgow accent and furthermore told me that forty years ago he’d been very happy to be told at a Glasgow high holy day service that Hannah Frank wanted to sculpt his daughter. It turns out that the daughter joined a select list of people (including me and my sister) who never actually got round to sitting for my aunt. Would that we knew then what we knew now!
YOUR FEEDBACK, PLEASE!
All orders for prints, books and cards received by us in July and August should be with customers now. We would love to hear your feedback so we can put comments on the web shop. If you have not received your order please get in touch – it may have been an oversight due to the busy birthday weekend.
ART, RELIGION, IDENTITY – international symposium at Glasgow University, and reception at the Scottish Parliament
This international event runs 23 - 24 September and registration is now open. Just a note: we have learned that if you registered on the ‘web registration form’ your registration apparently got lost in the ether - so please re-register using the Word document registration form on the website. (If you don’t register in advance you won’t be able to attend the evening reception). Here’s a little more information:
This Symposium is hosted by the University of Glasgow Graduate School of Arts and Humanities and the Department of Theology and Religious Studies to celebrate the Hannah Frank, A Glasgow Artist 100th Birthday Exhibition at Glasgow University Chapel.
Keynote Speakers are Professor Melissa Raphael-Levine (University of Gloucestershire): 'Can Seeing a Jewish Woman's Face be Like Seeing the Face of God?: The Impossibility of the Female Jewish Sublime in 20th Century Jewish Art'; Professor Shulamit Reinharz (Brandeis University) on 'A Century of Jewish Women Artists: Patterns and Products'; Professor Laura Levitt (Temple University): 'Seeing Jewish: An American Jewish Feminist Perspective'. Panel speakers on the first day of the conference include Lesley Richmond on ‘Hannah Frank, a University Woman of her Time’; and Kenneth Collins on ‘Art and Identity; the Glasgow Jewish Experience’.
A Special Plenary lecture will be given at the end of the conference by Dr Richard Holloway, Chair of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen. Former Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. The subject is ‘Creative Disloyalty’. This talk is open to the public and takes place at 6 p.m. on Wednesday 25th September at Glasgow University Memorial Chapel.
A reception will be held in the Scottish Parliament, Holyrood,
Edinburgh, on the evening of 23 September in honour of Hannah Frank.
This event will be open to conference delegates and transport from
Glasgow is available.
Registration costs £30 - download the full programme and registration form at http://hannahfrank.org.uk/pages/papers.htm
For more information, please contact the Conference Team at
art.religion.identity@googlemail.com
This event is supported by the Ben Uri Gallery: The London Jewish Museum of Art.
THREE HANNAH FRANK WORKS IN THE HUNTERIAN GALLERY
To celebrate Hannah’s hundredth birthday and to accompany the exhibition at the Chapel, three original Hannah Frank works are on show in Glasgow University’s Hunterian Art Gallery. You can see the sculpture ‘Listening Figure’, and the two drawings ‘Spring Frieze’ and ‘Job’ at the gallery, which is at 82 Hillhead Street. Tel 0141 330 5431 for further details or see the website http://www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk/.
All the best and thanks for reading this far – if you have! I don’t expect I’ll be doing many more newsletters – there’ll be one in October at the end of the show – but there seems to be new news about Hannah Frank every single month, so as long as you keep the interest going, I’ll keep the story going.
And I’ll be at the exhibition on Wednesday 10th October between 2 and 3 p.m. to meet any ‘fans’ who might want to know more of the background to my aunt’s drawings and sculpture. Let me know if you’ll be there.
Finally – please sign the new Centenary Guestbook on our website – you can find it at the bottom of each page on the site http://www.hannahfrank.org.uk
Press
Releases 2008
NUDES IN THE ATTIC: SURPRISE DISCOVERY MADE ON EVE OF ARTIST’S CENTENARY EXHIBITION
Remarkable drawings in a ‘new’ form by the veteran artist Hannah Frank have been discovered just before her centenary exhibition opens on her 100th birthday – 23 August.
Download MS Word file | PDF file
NEW HANNAH FRANK BOOK AND DVD LAUNCH IN TIME
FOR ARTIST’S 100TH BITRTHDAY
Exciting new sources of information relating to the life of the iconic Scottish Jewish artist, Hannah Frank, will be launched in time for her 100th birthday.
Download MS Word file | PDF file
INVITATION TO PRIVATE VIEW OF HANNAH FRANK, A GLASGOW ARTIST, 100TH BIRTHDAY EXHIBITION: RSPV
and
‘GALLIMAUFRY’ - NEW TEACHING RESOURCE BASED ON
HANNAH FRANK’S ART AND LIFE AVAILABLE
All Glasgow and district schools are invited to the private view of the 100th Birthday Exhibition of the work of Hannah Frank, the veteran Glasgow artist. The private view takes place on 22 August from 5pm – 6.30pm, at Glasgow University Chapel. An exciting new teaching resource, which uses the work of Hannah Frank, will also be launched at the event, where Andy Scott, artist and sculptor will be one of the speakers.
Download MS Word file | PDF file
Press
Releases December 2005
First Major London Exhibition For Iconic Art Nouveau Glasgow Artist At 98
Download MS Word file | PDF file
Veteran Jewish Artist Donates ‘Sun’ To Ben Uri Gallery
Download
MS Word file | PDF file
Press
Release June 2nd 2005
Art talk on iconic artist in Cornwall
Download
MS Word file (69k)
PDF file (13k)
Press
Release March 28th 2005
EASTER RADIO: HANNAH FRANK, LAST LIVING
LINK TO SCOTTISH ART NOUVEAU PERIOD, IN CONVERSATION
Download MS
Word file (78k) PDF
file (18k)
Pictures for this press release:
Hannah
Frank in Edinburgh August 2004 (130k)
Garden,
1932 (531k)
Press release September 1st 2004
HANNAH
FRANK - A GLASGOW ARTIST - DRAWINGS AND SCULPTURE. Published by the Scottish Jewish
Archives Centre, 1st September 2004. Price £21.50.
Download MS
Word file (20k) PDF
file (5k)
Press release August 24th 2004
UNIQUE
RECORD OF ARTIST WHO IS LAST LIVING LINK TO GLASGOW ART NOUVEAU PERIOD
Download
MS Word file (41k)
PDF file (16k)
Press
release May 24th 2004
FAMILIES MAKE THEMSELVES 'AT HOME' IN
LANCASTER MUSEUM
Download MS
Word file (28k) PDF
file (13k)
Press release April 1st 2004
"A
MAJOR new exhibition and multimedia event at Lancaster City Museum and Art Gallery
this Spring sees the fruition of a Lancaster woman's mission to bring the work
of her aunt, the iconic twentieth century Glasgow artist, Hannah Frank, to a wider
audience..."
Download MS
Word file (30k) PDF
file (23k)
Press release October 21st 2003
"A
NATIONWIDE hunt is under way for original artworks by Glasgow artist, Hannah Frank..."
Download
MS Word file (35k)
PDF file (25k)
Jewish
Renaissance Magazine - transcript
You can see an article from
Jewish Renaissance magazine here.