Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with V. V. Rankine

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.rankin90
Creators:
Rankine, V. V., 1920-2004
Kirwin, Liza
Dates:
1990 Mar. 2-22
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
34 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of V. V. Rankine conducted 1990 Mar. 2-22, by Liza Kirwin, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
Rankine discusses the evolution of her nickname, V.V.; discovering her dyslexia; growing up in Boston; auditioning for a part in, "The Philadelphia Story"; her art studies with Amedee Ozenfant from 1944 to 1946; her studies at Black Mountain College with Josef Albers and Willem De Kooning in 1947; her friendship with Morris Louis and watching him work; living with her brother-in-law Arshile Gorky, in New York City; her first one-woman show at the David Herbert Gallery in New York in 1962; exhibiting at the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York and at the Jefferson Place Gallery in Washington, D.C.; Robert Richman and the Institute of Contemporary Arts; the relationship between her painting and her sculpture; favorite shapes and materials; and her summer home in East Hampton and artist friends there. Rankine also recalls Robert Rauschenberg, Jack Youngerman, Manoucher Yektai, Betty Parsons, Ibram Lassaw, Buckminster Fuller, Elaine De Kooning, Arthur Penn, Richard Leopold, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Ken Noland, Morris Louis, Ray Johnson, Kenneth Snelson, David Hare, Frederick Kiesler, Raphael Soyer, Moses Soyer, Jean Renault, Agnes Gorky, Esther Magruder, James Johnson Sweeney, Jim Brooks, John Graham, Phillip Guston, Duncan Phillips, Theresa Helburn, Augustine Duncan, Tom Downing, Gene Davis, Alice Denney, Nesta Dorrance, Kevin Merrill, Sam Gilliam, Dylan Thomas, Kay Halle, Kit Kennedy, Naum Gabo, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Anne Truitt, Wretha Nelson, Franz Bader, Louise Nevelson, Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Bonnie Newman, Alexander Russo, Walt Sheridan, Gilbert Kinney, Saul Sherman, Steve Pace, Lee Krasner, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
V.V. Rankine (1920-2004) was a painter and sculptor from Washington, D.C. Variable forms of the artist's name are notably E. R. (Elvine Richard) Rankine, Vivian Scott Rankine, and her married name, Mrs. Paul Scott.

Administration

Sponsor
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.

Digital Content


More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hrs., 53 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Painters -- Washington (D.C.) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sculptors -- Washington (D.C.) Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women painters Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women sculptors Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Albers, Josef Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bader, Franz, 1903-1994 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Brooks, James, 1906-1992 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Callahan, Harry M. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cunningham, Merce Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Davis, Gene, 1920-1985 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
De Kooning, Elaine Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Denney, Alice Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dorrance, Nesta Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Duncan, Augustin Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Downing, Thomas, 1928-1985 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fuller, R. Buckminster (Richard Buckminster), 1895-1983 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gabo, Naum, 1890-1977 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gilliam, Sam, 1933-2022 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gorky, Arshile, 1904-1948 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gorky, Agnes Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Graham, John, 1887-1961 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Guston, Philip, 1913-1980 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Halle, Kay Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hare, David, 1917-1992 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Helburn, Theresa, 1887-1959 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Johnson, Ray, 1927-1995 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kennedy, Kit Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kiesler, Frederick Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kinney, Gilbert H. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Krasner, Lee, 1908-1984 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lassaw, Ibram, 1913-2003 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Leopold, Richard Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Louis, Morris, 1912-1962 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Magruder, Esther Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Merrill, Kevin Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Nelson, Wretha Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Nevelson, Louise, 1899-1988 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Newman, Bonnie Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Noland, Kenneth, 1924-2010 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ozenfant, Amédée, 1886-1966 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pace, Stephen, 1918-2010 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Parsons, Betty Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Penn, Arthur, 1922- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Phillips, Duncan, 1886-1966 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Renault, Jean Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Richman, Robert Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Russo, Alexander Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sheridan, Walt Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sherman, Saul Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Snelson, Kenneth, 1927-2016 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Soyer, Moses, 1899-1974 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Soyer, Raphael, 1899-1987 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sweeney, James Johnson, 1900- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Thomas, Dylan, 1914-1953 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Truitt, Anne, 1921-2004 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Warhol, Andy, 1928-1987 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Yektai, Manoucher, 1922- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Youngerman, Jack, 1926-2020 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Institute of Contemporary Arts (Washington, D.C.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Jefferson Place Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
David Herbert Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Black Mountain College (Black Mountain, N.C.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Betty Parsons Gallery Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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