Celebrating Queer Creativity: Atwood and Ranken

Atwood, later known as 'Tony' to friends, is remembered for her interior depictions. Despite these scenes presenting a hive of activity, people have noted a stillness about her work which was very likely a reflection of her character. The author and garden designer Vita Sackville-West described her friend 'Tony' as 'a person on her own'. She wrote: 'She is a peacemaker, she restores the balance. She never talks about herself; yet one is always conscious of her presence as a soothing influence.' (2)

When her studio was bombed during the First World War, Atwood moved into a flat with actress Edith (Edy) Craig and the feminist playwright Christopher St John (born Christabel Marshall). These two were both active suffragists and had previously lived together as an openly lesbian couple. 

Atwood entered into a happy, long-term relationship with the pair, and the self-styled 'three musketeers' were friends with a circle of women artists and writers including Vita Sackville-West, her lover the author Virginia Woolf, lesbian novelist Radclyffe Hall and her partner Una Troubridge (3).

Atwood exhibited a portrait of ‘Miss Edith Craig’ in 1916, then ‘Christopher St John’ in 1917, both at the NEAC. Later with the Club, in 1943, Atwood exhibited a painting of Edy with cat George, pictured above (4).

Edy was second-cousin to John Gielgud, and Atwood exhibited another painting, ‘John Gielgud’s Room’ at the NEAC in 1935, pictured below (5). This work had previously been exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1933.

Despite her talent and connections, very little has been written about Atwood's character. Michael Holroyd wrote that Atwood was 'in many ways an unexceptional person... she took no exception to anything, seeing all points of view, never speaking of herself.'

Kay Carson writes thoughtfully for ArtUK that 'the only glimpse we have been given into Atwood's self-perception is by way of her Self Portrait in a Hat with a Basket of Vegetables (1951), where she is shown in her customary masculine clothing – but perhaps that is the way she wanted it to be.' (6)

Mentored by John Singer Sargent, Ranken loved to paint aristocratic men and women. Art critic Joseph Duveen said, 'Mr Ranken is one of the few painters of the present day who shows in his work a genuine love of the gorgeous, the stately and the splendid.'

Many of his friends and patrons were queer artists. The Advocate's list of those friends included composer Cole Porter, writer Violet Keppel Trefusis, Anne Morgan, and her lover Elsie de Wolfe, the literary agent Elizabeth Marbury who was also de Wolfe’s lover, the famous collector Henry Davis Sleeper and his lifelong lover, actor Ernest Thesiger, William Lygon, Earl Beauchamp, and his middle son, the Honorable Hugh Lygon, who was one of the inspirations for Sebastian Flyte (8).

Ranken and actor Ernest Thesiger were lifelong friends, having met at Slade School of Art, with Ranken exhibiting the portrait above of him at the NEAC in 1901 (8). A flamboyant character, Ernest frequently wore numerous rings and often sported a string of pearls. It is rumoured that when Ranken learned of Thesiger’s engagement to Ranken’s sister, Janette, the artist shaved his head.

The exhibition at Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, ‘William Ranken: Gorgeous, Stately, Splendid’ explored the artist’s wider work. This includes the group portrait below, ‘The Garden Door’, gifted to Glasgow Museums by the artist’s sister, Mrs Ernest Thesiger (9).

Ranken is widely recognised as a queer British artist, but remembered more so for his colourful and beautiful works of aristocratic Edwardian life, and his evocative landscapes. He exhibited extensively until his untimely death in 1941, after which his friends organised a retrospective exhibition at the Ferargil Galleries in New York the following year. These patrons described him as 'the kind of man that all society liked, high or low, royal or peasant. Not only was he an artist, he was a friend.' (11)

As a member of so many FBA Societies, his contributions to the arts are felt even more strongly.

Banner image: Hibiscus Flower by William Bruce Ellis Ranken (1881-1941), oil painting on canvas, 1922, 137 x 106 cm. Image credit: Nottingham City Museums & Galleries.

(1) Self-portrait in a Hat with a Basket of Vegetables by Clare Atwood (Richmond, Surrey 1866-Tenderden, Kent 1962), oil painting on canvas, 1951, 610 x 508 mm. © National Trust Images.

(2,3,6) Carson, Kay (2020). Clare Tony Atwood: The Modest Musketeer. ArtUK.

(4) Edith Ailsa Craig (1869-1947) by Clare Atwood (Richmond 1866–Tenterden 1962), oil painting on canvas, 1943, 620 x 746 mm, Smallhythe. © National Trust Images.

(5) John Gielgud's Room by Clare Atwood, oil painting on canvas, 1933, 635 x 764 mm, presented by Mrs E.L. Shute 1937. © The estate of Clare Atwood. Photo; Tate.

(7) Self Portrait by William Ranken, 1902.

(8) Harrity, Christopher (2013). Artist Spotlight: William Bruce Ellis Ranken. Advocate.

(9) Ernest Thesiger by William Bruce Ellis Ranken (1881-1941), oil painting on canvas, 128 x 102 cm. Image credit: Manchester Art Gallery.

(10) The Garden Door by William Bruce Ellis Ranken (1881-1941), oil painting on canvas, 1926, 218 x 162 cm. Image credit: Glasgow Life Museums.

(11) Walker, Duncan (2017). William Ranken: Gorgeous, Stately, Splendid. ArtUK.