Elizabeth Rankin

{{Short description|South African emeritus professor of art history in New Zealand}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=September 2024}} {{Infobox academic | name = Elizabeth Rankin | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = {{#statements:P18}} | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{#statements:P569}} | birth_place = {{#statements:P19}} | death_date = {{#statements:P570}} | death_place = {{#statements:P20}} | resting_place = {{#statements:P119}} | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = | workplaces = {{#statements:P108}} | patrons = | alma_mater = {{#statements:P69}} | thesis1_title = Englishmen on the Acropolis: an historiography of the Parthenon, c. 1750-1850 | thesis1_url = | thesis1_year = 1978 | doctoral_advisor = {{#statements:P184}} | academic_advisors = {{#statements:P1066}} | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = {{#statements:P166}} | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = | spouse = | children = }} '''Elizabeth Anne Rankin''' is a South African–New Zealand art history academic, and is an emeritus professor at the University of Auckland, specialising in neglected South African artists, and printmaking and sculpture.

==Academic career==

Rankin completed a PhD titled ''Englishmen on the Acropolis: an historiography of the Parthenon, c. 1750-1850'' at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1978. It was the first PhD in art history awarded by the university.<ref>{{Cite thesis |title=Englishmen on the Acropolis: an historiography of the Parthenon, c. 1750-1850 |last=Rankin |first=Elizabeth Deane |type=PhD thesis |publisher=University of Witwatersrand |url=https://wits.summon.serialssolutions.com/#!/document?id=FETCH-wits_catalog_b116161312 |date=1978}}</ref> Rankin was appointed as Chair of the History of Art at Witwatersrand in 1982, and later served three years as Dean of Arts.<ref name=":0" />

Rankin was elected Chair of the South African Association of Art Historians in 1985.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Academic profile: Emeritus Professor Elizabeth Rankin |url=https://profiles.auckland.ac.nz/e-rankin/about |access-date=2024-09-15 |website=profiles.auckland.ac.nz}}</ref>

Rankin joined the faculty of the University of Auckland in 1998 as professor of art history. She was head of the department, and chair of the exhibitions committee for the university's Gus Fisher Gallery.<ref name=":0" /> Rankin's research focuses on neglected South African artists, and sculpture and print-making.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=The pressure of sunlight falling, Edited by Kriselle Baker and Elizabeth Rankin |url=https://www.otago.ac.nz/press/books/authors/elizabeth-rankin/fiona-pardington |access-date=16 Sep 2024 |website=Otago University Press}}</ref> Rankin published a history of Rorke's Drift printmakers with Philippa Hobbs in 2003. Rankin and Hobbs have written a biography of South African artist Peter Clarke, published in 2011, along with retrospective exhibitions at the South African National Gallery in Cape Town, and in Johannesburg.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Van Robbroeck |first=Lize |date=January 2012 |title=Listening to distant thunder: The art of Peter Clarke |url=https://scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0038-23532012000300004 |journal=South African Journal of Science |volume=108 |issue=5–6 |pages=08–09 |issn=0038-2353}}</ref> Rankin has also written about New Zealand photographers Fiona Pardington, and Neil Pardington.<ref name=":2" /> In 2018 she curated an exhibition and catalogue at the Waikato Museum of the work of Michael Shepherd, Reinventing History Painting, and has contributed to catalogues on the work of Marian Maguire, such as The Labours of Herakles and Titokowaru's Dilemma.

In 2012, Rankin was a visiting fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies at LMU Munich, where she worked with Prof. Dr. Rolf Schneider on the design of the frieze of the Voortrekker Monument.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Contact page |url=https://www.cas.lmu.de/en/people-at-cas/details/elizabeth-rankin-180f73ca.html |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=www.cas.lmu.de |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=DFG - GEPRIS - From memory to marble: the frieze of the Voortrekker Monument at Pretoria |url=https://gepris-extern.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/254347259?language=en |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=gepris-extern.dfg.de}}</ref> Together they published ''From Memory to Marble: The Historical Frieze of the Voortrekker Monument in 2020.''Rankin retired in 2016 and was appointed Professor Emerita at Auckland.<ref name=":0" />

== Selected works == {{scholia}}

=== Books ===

* {{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Kriselle |title=Neil Pardington: The Order of Things |last2=Rankin |first2=Elizabeth |publisher=Baker + Douglas |year=2015}} * {{Cite book|title=Listening to distant thunder: The art of Peter Clarke|year= 2014|publisher=Fernwood|last1=Hobbs|first1=Philippa|last2=Rankin|first2=Elizabeth|author-link=Philippa Hobbs}} * {{Cite book |last=Rankin |first=Elizabeth |title=Fiona Pardington: the pressure of sunlight falling |publisher=Otago University Press |year=2011 |editor-last=Baker |editor-first=Kriselle }} * {{Cite book |last1=Rankin |first1=Elizabeth |last2=Hobbs|first2=Phillippa|author2-link=Philippa Hobbs|title=Rorke's Drift: Empowering prints |publisher=Double Storey |year=2003}} * {{Cite book|title=Images of metal: Post-war sculptures and assemblages in South Africa|year= 1994|publisher=Witwatersrand University Press|last=Rankin|first=Elizabeth}} * {{Cite book|title=Images of wood: Aspects of the history of sculpture in 20th-century South Africa|publisher= Johannesburg Art Gallery|year=1989|last1=Rankin|first1=Elizabeth| last2=Dell|first2=E|last3=Meintjes|first3=J}} * {{Cite book|last1=Hobbs|first1=Philippa|author-link=Philippa Hobbs|last2=Rankin|first2=Elizabeth| year=1997|title=Printmaking in a Transforming South Africa|publisher= David Philip Publishers|isbn=0-86486334-9}}

=== Other works === * {{CiteQ|Q58174768}} * {{CiteQ|Q57095265}} * {{CiteQ|Q130300740}} * {{CiteQ|Q130300763}} * {{CiteQ|Q130300820|doi-access=free}}

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdkbKQuA56o Postcolonial Perceptions: Imagining New Zealand History]'', 2021 seminar for University of Witwatersrand

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rankin, Elizabeth}} Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:University of the Witwatersrand alumni Category:Academic staff of the University of the Witwatersrand Category:South African women academics Category:South African art historians Category:South African emigrants to New Zealand Category:New Zealand women academics Category:Academic staff of the University of Auckland Category:New Zealand art historians