Editing Ralph Rumney

{{Short description|English artist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Situationists |expanded=Figures}}

'''Ralph Rumney''' (5 June 1934 – 6 March 2002) was an English artist, born in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], where his father was an Anglican vicar.

In 1957 lifelong [[conscientious objector]] Rumney—he evaded [[National Service]] by going on the run in continental Europe—was one of the co-founders of the [[London Psychogeographical Association]]. This organization was, along with [[COBRA (avant-garde movement)|COBRA]] and the [[Lettrist International]], involved in the formation of the [[Situationist International]] (SI). Amongst those present at the founding in the Italian village of Cosio d'Arroscia were [[Walter Olmo]], [[Michèle Bernstein]] (later his second wife), [[Asger Jorn]], and [[Guy Debord]]. However, within seven months Rumney had been "amiably" expelled from the SI by Debord for "failing to hand in a [[psychogeography]] report about Venice on time."

Rumney spent much of his life living as a wanderer, and was variously described as both a "recluse" and a "media whore", seeing his existence as a "permanent adventure and endless experiment." Rumney married [[Pegeen Guggenheim]], the daughter of [[Peggy Guggenheim]]. He moved, as his friend [[Guy Atkins]] said, "between penury and almost absurd affluence. One visited him in a squalid room in London's [[Neal Street]], in a house shared with near down-and-outs. Next, one would find him in Harry's Bar in Venice, or at a [[Max Ernst]] opening in Paris. He seemed to take poverty with more equanimity than riches."

His painting [https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/rumney-the-change-t05556 The Change] is in the [[Tate Britain|Tate Gallery]] collection. He had initially gifted it to Peggy Guggenheim at the time he met her daughter Pegeen.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Douglas |date=31 March 2002 |title=Ralph Rumney, Artist and Avant-Gardist, Is Dead at 67 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/31/nyregion/ralph-rumney-artist-and-avant-gardist-is-dead-at-67.html |access-date=27 September 2024 |work=The New York Times |pages=35}}</ref>

Ralph Rumney died of cancer at his home in [[Manosque]], [[Provence]], France, in 2002, aged 67.

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* ''The Map Is Not The Territory'' by Alan Woods and Ralph Rumney (Manchester University Press, {{ISBN|0-7190-5951-8}}) was published in 2001.
* ''The Consul'' by Ralph Rumney, a book of interviews conducted by Gérard Berreby (Verso, {{ISBN|1-85984-395-6}}) published in 2002.
* ''La Vie d'artiste'', published in 2010, reproduces several of Rumney's works alongside biographical memoirs by [[Michèle Bernstein]], [[Guy Atkins]], [[Alison Dunhill]] and [[Malcolm Imrie]] (Editions Allia, {{ISBN|978-2-84485-391-2}}).

==External links==
*[https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,3604,663873,00.html Obituary by guardian.co.uk]
*[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1387176/Ralph-Rumney.html Obituary by telegraph.co.uk]
*[https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/31/nyregion/ralph-rumney-artist-and-avant-gardist-is-dead-at-67.html Obituary by nytimes.com]
*[http://www.stewarthomesociety.org/interviews/rumney.htm 1989 interview with Rumney from ''Art Monthly'']

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rumney, Ralph}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:Artists from Newcastle upon Tyne]]
[[Category:English artists]]
[[Category:English conscientious objectors]]
[[Category:Situationists]]
[[Category:Psychogeographers]]