Hannah frank

Born in Glasgow in 1908, Hannah became a well known Glaswegian illustrator.

identified for her black and white drawings resonant of art nouveau style and the work of aubrey beardsley.

She studied at Glasgow University where her work was produced frequently in the Glasgow university magazine, between 1927 to 1932, under the pseudonym ‘Al Aaraaf’, taken from the title of a poem by Edgar allan poe.

After attending jordanhill training college - and contributing drawings to the New Dominie student magazine - Hannah worked as a teacher while attending evening classes at glasgow school of art widening her interest in different media including sculpture which became her sole focus from the early 1950s.

hannah’s drawings appeared regularly at the royal glasgow institute of fine arts from the 1930 to 1950. during this time she also contributed sculpture and drawing to various Jewish organisations for fundraising appeals or illustration purposes, as a member fo the glasgow committee of the friends of the hebrew university. Subsequently her work has been used to illustrate the scottish jewish archives newsletter throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

her drawings, often based on the subject matter of poetry, use sweeping lines to create lithe and stylised figures with expressive but simplified facial characteristics. The exclusive use of black and white creates a melancholic drama evocative of the poetry she was influenced by.