Paul Ranson

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Paul-Élie Ranson (French pronunciation:

He was born in Limoges. His mother died in childbirth, so he was raised and educated by his grandparents and his father, Louis Casimir Ranson [fr], a politician who served two terms as Mayor of Limoges. He received his first drawing lessons from his grandfather, Jean-Jacques Maquart, and was enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts Appliqués à l'Industrie in 1877.

In 1884, he married his first cousin, Marie-France Rousseau, and studied for a time at the

In 1891, he participated in the Symbolist performances at the Théâtre d'Art, where the poet, Paul Fort, was organizing shows to benefit his fellow poet Paul Verlaine and Paul Gauguin. In 1892, he directed a performance of Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry at the Théâtre des Pantins.

He also participated in group exhibitions organized by Le Barc de Boutteville, held from 1891 to 1895, as well as at the Salon des indépendants and the Salon de la Libre Esthétique in Brussels after 1894. That same year, he was able to indulge his life-long interest in puppetry by opening a theater, with puppets made by Georges Lacombe. He encountered some difficulties not long after, however, when the death of his stepfather, Charles Rousseau, forced him and Marie to support their own apartment.

Ranson's interest in

In 1908, seeing him faced with serious physical and financial problems, his friends in Les Nabis created the Académie Ranson, and entrusted him with its management. Marie took over after his death and it survived, in various forms, until 1955.

Ranson died of typhoid fever in 1909 in Paris and was buried in Limoges.

• 
  Christ and Buddha

  , (1880)
• 
  Nabis Landscape, (1890)
• 
  Witches Around the Fire, (1891)
• 
  Witch with a Black Cat, (1893)
• 
  The Blue Room, (c. 1900)
• 
  Apple Tree with Red Berries, (1902)
• 
  Three Beeches, (1905)

• Frèches-Thory, Claire, & Perucchi-Petry, Ursula, ed.: Die Nabis: Propheten der Moderne, Kunsthaus Zürich & Grand Palais, Paris & Prestel, Munich 1993
  ISBN 3-7913-1969-8
  (German), (French)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paul-Élie Ranson.

• More works by Ranson @ ArtNet
• Paul Ranson Archived 2005-05-20 at the Wayback Machine @ Renoir Fine Art
• Paul Ranson @ Kilidavid
• Ranson Paintings @ Ariel Art Galleries