Arabella Rankin

Arabella Louisa Rankin (1871 – 1943) was a Scottish painter and colour woodcut artist.[1]

Arabella Rankin
Born1871
Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland
Died1943
Kensington, London, England
NationalityBritish

Early life

Rankin was born at Muthill in Perthshire.[2]

Arabella Rankin, "Sir Espérance" (1902); the text of the illustration reads "The garden is gay in the month of May/The fire is the flower of the winter's day/God save the King we humbly pray."

Career

Rankin contributed a story, "Kaitrin's Collection", to the 1893 Summer Number of the Dundee Weekly News.[3][4] In 1896, Rankin also won first prize in a contest for artful embroidered book covers, run by Studio International magazine, with her Podley.[5] She also won first prize in a contest run by the same magazine in 1902, for a color illustration titled Sir Espérance.[6] In 1899, her watercolour titled "A Swimming Match" was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh.[7]

Beyond these very early efforts, Rankin worked primarily with colour woodcuts. Early examples of her prints, such as The Striped Rocks (1920)[8] or Sligneach, Iona (1921),[9] show her using Japanese wood block techniques.[10] Later landscape works, such as Martyr's Bay, Iona and Iona, from 1924 and 1927 respectively, use a more conventional approach.[10]

Rankin was a member of the Colour Woodcut Society and from 1924 to 1935 exhibited regularly with the Society of Graver Painters in Colour.[10] During her career she had some twenty-four pieces shown at the Royal Scottish Academy and also exhibited with the Society of Women Artists, and the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts.[2][11]

Personal life and legacy

After a spell in Edinburgh, Rankin worked in London for a time. She returned to Scotland in 1913 and lived at Abbotsbrae in Crieff before returning to London in 1922. She lived in Kensington for the rest of her life.[2][12]

Both the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum hold examples of her prints.[13][14]

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References
  1. Paul Harris & Julian Halsby (1990). The Dictionary of Scottish Painters 1600 to the Present. Canongate. ISBN 1-84195-150-1.
  2. Peter J.M. McEwan (1994). The Dictionary of Scottish Art and Architecture. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 1-85149-134-1.
  3. "The Summer Number of the Weekly News (advertisement)". The Courier and Argus. 1893-06-20. p. 7. Retrieved 2020-05-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Dundee Weekly News Summer Number". The Courier and Argus. 1893-06-12. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-05-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Embroidered Book Cover". The International Studio. 6: 197. 1896.
  6. Holme, Charles; Boswell, Peyton; Eglington, Guy; McCormick, William Bernard; Whigham, Henry James (1902). "Awards in 'The Studio' Prize Competitions". The International Studio. 16: 230.
  7. "Scottish Academy; Annual Exhibition". The Courier and Argus. 1899-02-25. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-05-05 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "The striped rocks | Rankin, Arabella Louisa | V&A Search the Collections". V and A Collections. 2020-05-05. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  9. "Sligneach, Iona | Rankin, Arabella Louisa | V&A Search the Collections". V and A Collections. 2020-05-05. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  10. Robin Garton (1992). British Printmakers 1855-1955 A Century of Printmaking from the Etching Revival to St Ives. Garton & Co / Scolar Press. ISBN 0-85967-968-3.
  11. Grant M. Waters (1975). Dictionary of British Artists Working 1900-1950. Eastbourne Fine Art.
  12. Simon Houfe (1996). The Dictionary of 19th Century British Book Illustrators. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 1-85149-1937.
  13. "Collection search, Arabella Louisa Rankin". British Museum. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  14. "Arabella Louisa Rankin". Victoria & Albert Museum. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
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