Hannah Frank art news for March - stop press, talk, film and special guest this Friday
Fiona Frank
HANNAH FRANK NEWS – MARCH 2012
This month’s news: we have Hannah Frank works still on show in Glasgow and in Lancaster – the Royal Glasgow Institute show at the Kelly Gallery, Douglas St, Glasgow, runs till this Saturday 17 March (opening times 10-30-5 Tuesday to Friday, 10.30-3 on Saturday), and the Lancaster show, at Arteria in Brock St, runs till Saturday 24th March.
IDA SCHUSTER BERKELEY TO SPEAK AT HANNAH FRANK TALK AT ROYAL GLASGOW INSTITUTE
The Scottish actress and director, Ida Schuster Berkeley, who is now in her 90s so is a near contemporary of my late aunt, will speak at a talk I’m giving at the Royal Glasgow Institute this Friday (16 March).
The talk is part of an event that complements the current exhibition, ‘Spring Frieze: Hannah Frank – 75 Years a Glasgow Artist,’ which opened on 6 March and runs until 17 March.
The event starts with a screening of the film, ‘Hannah Frank - The Spark Divine’, at 12.30pm at the RGI. This short film, made by award winning director Sarah Thomas, is a beautiful introduction to my aunt’s life and work, and includes interviews with her in later life. I will follow the film by a talk on ‘Hannah Frank’s life in the Glasgow Jewish community’. For this I’m thrilled to have the support of Ida Schuster Berkeley. Ida Schuster Berkeley is a well known name in Scottish drama, having worked as both actress and director. She made her debut at the age of 11 at Alfred Greenbaum’s Jewish Institute Players and over the years has tackled roles in plays such as Blood Wedding by Federico García Lorca and Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming. She also starred with Harvey Keitel in Glasgow-based cult classic movie Death Watch (1979). Ida will give first person recollections of the occasions and organisations that Hannah wrote about in her diaries or for which she illustrated posters and leaflets.
DISCUSSION: BEING JEWISH IN SCOTLAND
At 1.30pm, following the film and talk, there will be a discussion on ‘Being Jewish in Scotland.’ This is part of a Scottish government funded project which is being carried out by the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC) and aims to hear the experiences of Jewish people throughout Scotland. If you’re Scottish and Jewish – or “Jew-ish” and would like to have your voice heard, please come. For more information on this project, and a survey to complete, see www.scojec.org/jewishinscotland.html Tel 07779 206 522 or 0141 638 6411 for more information.
MIRIAM MARGOLYES SENDS MESSAGE OF SUPPORT TO SPRING FRIEZE PRIVATE VIEW
The Private View for the Royal Glasgow Institute exhibition was last Thursday. Visitors, who were treated to Hamantaschen (as the opening coincided with the Jewish festival of Purim) saw a video message from Miriam Margolyes, who is currently touring in Australia which you can see here http://www.royalglasgowinstitute.org/kelly.html . I introduced the show but found it quite emotional: the last time a Hannah Frank show had opened in the Kelly Gallery my aunt was in attendance, and the opening speech, given then by Professor Pamela Robertson, honoured my aunt, her work, and her place in the Glasgow art scene, directly.
This new Hannah Frank exhibition comprises original drawings and sketches, bronze and plaster sculptures and reproduction prints. Hannah has had a long relationship with the RGI, having exhibited there throughout her career. This exhibition is the third solo show she has had there.
‘Spring Frieze: Hannah Frank – 75 Years a Glasgow Artist,’ Royal Glasgow Institute, Kelly Gallery, 118 Douglas Street, Glasgow. Tel: 0141 248 6386. 6 March – 17 March 2012. Tuesday - Friday 10.30am - 5pm. Saturday 10.30am - 3pm.
SALE OF RARE PASTEL WORKS WILL FUND NEW HANNAH FRANK FOUNDATION.
MIRIAM MARGOLYES TO BE PATRON
Eight pastel Hannah Frank drawings I discovered in the attic at Westacres Care Home, Newton Mearns in 2008 are on sale at the Royal Glasgow Institute show. The eight pastels reveal a hitherto unknown dimension to my aunt’s work - experimentation with colour and shading. They were included in the 100th Birthday Exhibition at Glasgow University Chapel but had never been seen before. They were completed in the 1950s as part of life drawing classes at the Glasgow School of Art.
The eight pastel drawings are framed in high quality aluminium frames with acid free mounts by The Picture Framing Workshop, Lancaster, and I will provide a signed certificate of authenticity with each one.
The price for these drawings has been set at £900, of which the total will go towards the setting up of a new Hannah Frank Foundation which will promote the artist’s work. Actress Miriam Margolyes, who has been a long-time fan of Hannah’s work, has agreed to be Patron of this Foundation.
The Foundation’s first task will be to fund the completion of the cataloguing of the Hannah Frank and Lionel Levy Archive of letters, diaries, certificates, albums and papers, held at the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre (SJAC), Glasgow. This work will make the archive accessible to researchers across the globe. We also hope to provide bursaries for researchers to work on the archive at the SJAC.
The Hannah Frank and Lionel Levy Archive has already been the subject of two postgraduate dissertations: one, by Dawn Sinclair, was a fascinating look at the role that amateur ‘champions’ – family members, etc – as well as archives themselves, play in preserving material. Researchers from France and Australia have already consulted the material. The Hannah Frank and Lionel Levy Archive will be a highly valuable resource for researchers in history of art, feminist history, the history of Glasgow life and Scottish Jewish history.
Bronze casts of several of Hannah Frank’s sculptures are also on sale at the RGI exhibition, as are prints, cards and notelets.
For information on the works for sale, please visit the RGi exhibition or contact Fiona Frank, email hannahf...@gmail.com
…
We have been approached by some galleries across Scotland wishing to exhibit my aunt’s work in the coming year – watch this space! And hope to see you this Friday lunchtime at the Royal Glasgow Institute.
Best wishes
Fiona Frank
Director, Hannah Frank Art