Nudes in the Attic
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.
Visitors to the ‘Hannah Frank, A Glasgow Artist 100th Birthday Exhibition’ now have a chance to see this significant new discovery of 17 Hannah Frank original works in a medium that we do not normally associate with this artist. Fiona Frank, the artist’s niece and champion, made the find during a last minute rummage in a suitcase held in the loft of the care home where Hannah Frank now lives.
“We’ve discovered many of Hannah’s artworks in this suitcase over the last five years. I’d noticed some pieces of sugar paper there but assumed they were packing materials. Then something made me take a closer look. To my amazement I found, inside each piece of folded sugar paper, 17 coloured drawings of various figures done in pastel. We think she did them during life classes at the Glasgow School of Art where my Aunt studied for many years.”
Here she used vibrant colour - bright red, an electric blue - and they are less linear and more three dimensional than her distinctive ‘trademark’ black and white works, yet there is still a haunting melancholy about these figures which is associated with those works.
Artist Ann Marie Foster, who has run Hannah Frank art workshops, said: “What a find! Hannah captures an essence with such economy of line. They are evidence of her drawing skill and technical facility and demonstrate the draftsman/womanship underpinning the black and white line drawings.”
Fiona added: “These drawings are a remarkable, integral part of the history of Hannah Frank’s journey as an artist. We urge people to come along to the exhibition, to celebrate the wonderful art Hannah produced over a 75 year career and to appreciate the vibrancy and vitality in these newly discovered life drawings.”
WOMAN’S HOUR - Tuesday 19th August
An interview with Hannah Frank, previously heard on Radio Scotland, will be featured.
If you’ve missed it try the BBC iPlayer
UPDATE: Sadly we have to report that Hannah Frank passed away peacefully, aged 100, on 18 December 2008. Thanks to the efforts of her niece, Fiona, her work is now widely known and exhibited and has forever left her footprints in the sand.