It’s been a hectic few months and I’ve been meaning to send a newsletter for about twelve weeks. So here it is. First - a Shana Tovah, Happy New Year, and well over the fast, to all my Jewish readers.
The main highlights of this newsletter are NEW cards and NEW notelets, NEW stockists, and an AUCTION – coming up TODAY Tuesday 27th September!
AUCTION AT McTEAR’S I’m delighted to report that two Hannah Frank works are up for auction on TUESDAY 27th September (probably ‘today’ depending on when you get this email) at McTear’s Auction House in Glasgow. The drawing, ‘Spirit of Delight’ from 1927 was untraced for many years. I found it though a chance encounter on eBay. I was offering Hannah Frank prints there when Adam Brawn Meek, an antiques dealer from Norwich, came forward. Adam was offered a set of Hannah Frank drawings in the 1970s. He bought four drawings and a set of woodcuts. ‘Spirit of Delight’ was one of these drawings and had been hiding in his attic for 30 years!
The drawing illustrates Shelley’s melancholy poem of 1824 and features a slender female figure in white with flowing hair and gown against a stark black background. Beneath the drawing, which is signed by the artist, Hannah has inscribed the words: ‘Rarely, rarely, comest thou – Spirit of Delight – Shelley.’ My aunt sold a number of drawings in the 1970s to a dealer who came to her front door in Glasgow. Several have since surfaced in the Norwich area. The minimum on all drawings at this auction is £1000. This is the first time an original Hannah Frank drawing has come up for auction for many years and we’re very interested to see what interest there will be. One of Hannah Frank’s sculptures, a bronze head from 1954, is also being auctioned.
The auction takes place at 6pm and you can either go in person, bid online or watch the progress of this auction - live on the McTear’s website. See their website for more info. (I’ll be watching live in Lancaster if you’d like to join me at my house....)
NOTELETS By popular demand – thanks to Beatrice Sofaer AND Arteria in Lancaster – we now have Hannah Frank NOTELETS. These are half the size of the normal cards, they come in packs of six assorted images, there are four different sets of assorted images, and each set costs £5.99 to buy (plus £1.50 p&p). They’re so new they’re not even on the website yet but you can see the makeup of the different sets HERE . If you’d like to order one or more sets, either print off an order form and send it back to me with a cheque, or just email me your name and address and how many of which sets of notelets you’d like, and I’ll send you back a paypal invoice by return (or you can post a cheque, payable to Hannah Frank Art Sales, to the address on the order form.) You don’t even have to look at the document – just email me if you’d like me to choose you a ‘lucky dip’ pack. These make lovely presents and can come as a special ‘gift’ set tied up with black ribbon – on request.
ARDGOWAN HOSPICE ART SHOW Sarah Nottingham got in touch and asked if we would be prepared to help out with an art show in aid of Ardgowan Hospice, Greenock, running from 18 to 20 November. You will be able to buy Hannah Frank notelets and prints at the Riverside Inverclyde Gallery, at the Ladyburn Business Centre, Pottery Street, Greenock, PA15 2UH.
BREAST CANCER CARE We have donated a signed print which will be auctioned at the Breast Cancer Care champagne reception and evening fashion show taking place at the Radisson Hotel, Glasgow, on Thursday 29th September, 2011. See their website for further information.
RIOT RAFFLE Hannah Frank art has also made a contribution to the clean-up after the recent riots that broke out across the UK. We donated a signed copy of the 1947 print 'Woman with Birds' to "riotraffle', the art and craft community raising money for the Retail Trust. All of the money raised will go to help small businesses harmed in the riots around the UK. Please visit the site and buy a raffle ticket! tickets are on sale until 30 September 2011.
HANNAH FRANK AT TRADE FAIRS We had stands at two trade fairs this summer, in Harrogate and Glasgow, with a specific aim to get Hannah Frank cards into new outlets – art shops, galleries and card shops. I had fantastic support at the trade fairs from Hannah Frank afficionados Wendy Moore (who helped to hang the exhibition at Lancaster City Art Gallery in 2004!), and longstanding Hannah Frank fan Tim Street. We have made many more cards available – a total of 27 are now on sale, including a beautiful ‘Girl With Menorah’, ‘Sorcery’ from 1929, and ‘Out of the Night a Shadow Passed’ (1928). See them on the website gallery HERE
The Cat's Miaou, Edinburgh
Bookpoint, Dunoon
Glasgow University Visitor Centre
Calder Gallery, Lochwinnoch
Mosaic, Bishop's Stortford
Iona Gallery and Pottery, Isle of Iona
Smith Art Gallery and Museum, Stirling
Darryl Nantais Gallery, Linton, Cambridge
Glasgow Women’s Library (at the Mitchell Library – Berkeley St)
BOOK COMPETITION At Harrogate we ran a daily competition for a copy of the book ‘Hannah Frank: A Glasgow Artist, Drawings and Sculpture.’ Among the winners were Les Skinner, from Euphoria, Whitchurch, Cardiff; Sheila Tennet, from Florin and The Glendale Gallery, Wooler, Northumberland, Tracy Goldsmith, Paula Manfield, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Carol Johnson from Daisy Jewellers, Mark Jessett of GF Smith paper supplier, Charlotte Strawbridge, artist and Claire Riley from the House for an Art Lover. . At Glasgow we had a raffle to win a signed and numbered copy of the print ‘Dream’ (1952) which was won by Christine Brown from the Calder Gallery in Lochwinnoch.
HANNAH FRANK features in Masters Thesis Earlier this month I was very moved to read Dawn Sinclair’s Master’s thesis, “Shaping the archive - Identity and the Acquisition and Processing of Archives”. Dawn was doing the post-graduate degree in Information Management and Preservation at Glasgow University. She interviewed me earlier this year, and wrote beautifully about the place of my aunt's archive in the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre, and the role that the manager and housekeeper at Westacres Care Home had played in preserving the collection, as well as my own role as ‘champion’ of my aunt’s collection.
Please think about buying some cards, notelets, or prints, to help to bring Hannah Frank to an even wider audience. When just one new person sees a card then we have reached another potential fan of my aunt’s art.
Best wishes
Fiona Frank
Director, Hannah Frank Art
07778 737681
