William Bruce Ellis Ranken
ARTIST: William Ellis Bruce Ranken (1881-1941) Scottish
TITLE: “Classical Flower Still Life Study”
SIGNED: lower right
MEDIUM: oil on canvas
SIZE: 143cm x 70cm inc frame
CONDITION: some light separation and some light cracking to the canvas
PRICE: £1000
DETAIL: William Ranken was born at 8 Learmonth Terrace, Edinburgh in 1881, the third son of Robert Burt Ranken, a prosperous Writer to the Signet, and his wife Mary Witherington Ranken (née Dunlop). His early childhood was spent at Philiphaugh House, Selkirk and later at Penicuik House. He was educated at Eton and at the Slade School of Art in London.
Around 1899 his Family took up residence at Dalswinton House, just north of Dumfries, which they occupied for the next twenty years. The House, its estate and the surrounding areas became a source of inspiration to Ranken. He first exhibited in 1901 at the New English Art Club and in 1904 he had his first one-man exhibition at the then prestigious Carfax Gallery in London which received enthusiastic reviews, with particular reference being made to his ‘In the Park, Dalswinton’ (whereabouts unknown) which was illustrated in colour in ‘The Studio’ magazine (see photo). He subsequently exhibited widely at all the major artistic Societies and Galleries in Great Britain and in the period to 1919 many of his works, both in oil and watercolour, included subjects associated with Dumfriesshire and in particular Dalswinton, such as ‘The Policeman’s Garden, Dalswinton’, ‘The Saw Mill, Dalswinton’, ‘Stormy Evening, Dalswinton’, ‘Dalswinton Village’, ‘On Sandbed Farm, Dalswinton’, ‘Dalswinton Loch, Autumn afternoon’, ‘A Little Garden at Auldgirth’, ‘Azalea Mollis in the drawing room at Dalswinton’, ‘Mrs Kelsey in the garden at Dalswinton’, ‘Mrs Kelsey on the roof at Dalswinton’, ‘On the lawn, Dalswinton’, ‘Wild Hyacinths, Dalswinton’, ‘Oak trees on the road to Dumfries’, ‘Valley of the Nith’, ‘The Old Bridge, Dumfries’, ‘Old Houses on the Nith, Maxwelltown’, ‘Beech Trees at harvest, near Kirkton’, ‘September flowers from a Dumfriesshire garden’ and so forth.
His magnificent oil painting ‘Water Lilies at Dalswinton’ (private collection, USA), exhibited at The Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1910 and subsequently at The Royal Scottish Academy in 1911, is one of his finest works (see photo), widely acclaimed at the time, with the critic of ‘The Observer’ noting it to be ‘as decorative as Monet’s famous ‘Nymphées’. Although many paintings by Ranken are held in public collections, the only one associated with his Dalswinton period is his ‘Mrs Kelsey in pink in the drawing room at Dalswinton’ (see photo) which is to be found at the City of York Art Gallery, but unfortunately not on display.
Ranken subsequently established his studio at 14 Cheltenham Terrace in Chelsea and acquired the impressive Warbrook House at Eversley, Hampshire. He travelled widely, was particularly successful in the USA and continued to exhibit extensively until his untimely death in London in 1941. A retrospective exhibition was held at the Ferargil Galleries in New York the following year.
Biography credit Gordon & Wendy Hawksley
