HvS | RHA Exhibitions, 1990-2000

Visit at High Elms Manor yesterday.
L to R: John Tepper Marlin, Sheila
Marlin O'Neill, Brigid Marlin Oakley.
Photo by Alice Tepper Marlin.

Yesterday my sister Brigid and I visited with our sister Sheila at High Elms Manor, Watford, Herts. My wife Alice and nephew Chris were also on the visit and their photos appear in another post.

Sheila passed on to me copies of several Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts exhibition catalogs for the year 1990-2000 that contain references to the art of our mother Hilda van Stockum, HRHA (1908-2006).

I have started below a list of the art at the RHA exhibitions, with thumbnail photos by permission of the Estate of Hilda van Stockum, as a step toward the day when someone might prepare a more ambitious lifetime catalog of HvS art.

Our Dad, E. R. (Spike) Marlin (1909-1994), personally supervised the crating and delivery of art each year until he died in 1994. After that the Exhibition became a joint effort, as I understand it, of HvS and her two artist daughters Brigid Marlin and Sheila Marlin O'Neill. Maybe they will add to this post over time, as will I. If you have additions or corrections, or can add the current location of any piece of art, please send this information to me at teppermarlin@aol.com.

HvS, Bottles and Glasses,
RHA 1990.

RHA 1990 
160th Exhibition, April 24-May 26

410. Heather and Winter Jasmine

        Oil
        16x19.5"
        IR£2,300

411. Bottles and Glasses (Photo at right)

        Oil
        20.5x15.5
        IR£2,500

412. Apples and Copper Kettle

        Oil
        20x23.5
        IR£2,500

HvS, Orchids and
Jasmine, RHA 1991.

RHA 1991
161st Exhibition, April 30-May 25

508. Icelandic Poppies
        Oil
        13x15"
        IR£1,800
509. Orchids and Jasmine (Photo at right)
        Oil
        25x18"
        IR£3,800 (Photo at left)
510. Three Bottles
        Oil
        17x13"
        IR£3,000

RHA 1992 
162nd Exhibition, April 29-May 23

490. Old Dutch Coffee Pot and Pears

HvS, Tomatoes and Crackle-
Glazed Vase, RHA 1992.

        Oil
        17x21", IR£3,000

491. Red Pears in Copper Pan
        Oil
        12x14", IR £3,000

492. Tomatoes and Crackle-Glazed Vase (Photo at right)
        Oil
        19x29", IR£4,800

RHA 1993
163rd Exhibition, April 27-May 22

393. Fruit Bowl and Tankard (Photo at right)

HvS, Fruit Bowl and Tankard,
RHA 1993.

        Oil

        15x15.25"

        IR£2,500

394. Canterbury Bells

        Oil

        15x12"

        IR£1,500

395. Copper Kettle and Apples

        Oil

        14x18"

        IR£2,300

RHA 1996
166th Exhibition, April 23-May 18

456. Brass Kettle, Cup and Jug (Photo at right)

HvS, Brass Kettle, Cup and Jug,
RHA 1996.

        Oil
        27x22"
        IR£2,000
457. Rose Bowl with Flowers
        Oil
        19.5x18"
        £IR1,600
458. Peaches in China Bowl
        Oil
        25.5x21"
        IR£2,000
459. Copper Bowl with Apple

        Oil

        19.5x18"
        IR£1,600

In his review of the 166th Exhibition, Brian Fallon in The Irish Times says that Hilda van Stockum "still rules the field in still life" (see clip at right).

RHA 2000
170th Exhibition, April 11-May 13

HvS, Still Life with Apples, 
RHA 2000.

394. Still Life with Crystal Vase

        Oil on gesso paper

        22x15"

        IR£1,000

395. Still Life with Apples (Photo at right)

        Oil on gesso paper

        16x23.5"

        IR£1,000

WW2 | 55K Sales of "Winged Watchman" in Reprint

Hilda van Stockum's book about a Dutch miller's family in wartime Holland was originally published by Farrar Straus & Cudahy (later Farrar Straus & Giroux).

It passed 55,000 in sales in the first quarter of 2016. It is sold by Bethlehem Books.

This is a very high sales figure for a book that was allowed to go out of print. At $15 per book, that amounts to $825,000 in revenue. The book generates about $40,000 in sales per year. 

So by 2020 it will have generated about $1 million in reprint.

A companion book that van Stockum wrote to The Winged Watchman is about a Nazi-occupied house in Amsterdam. It is called The Borrowed House. 

A new edition is about to be released by Purple House Press in Cynthiana, Kentucky, which was founded by Jill Morgan.

The new edition will have a foreword about HvS's life by me and an endnote by Christine Schintgen with information about HvS's writing.