Ragna Thiis Stang (15 September 1909 – 29 March 1978) was a Norwegian historian and museum administrator.

Biography

She was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. She was a daughter of museum director

Jens Thiis Jens Thiis (12 May 1870 – 27 June 1942) was a Norwegian Art history, art historian, conservator and a prominent museum director. He was conservator at the Nordenfjeld Industrial Arts Museum (''Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum'') in Tron ...

and his wife Vilhelmine Dons. Her brother was architect

Helge Thiis Helge Thiis (16 August 1897 – 1 August 1972) was a Norway, Norwegian architect. He is most noted for service as head architect at the restoration of Nidaros Cathedral. Background Helge Thiis was born in Trondheim, Norway. He was the son of cur ...

. After graduating artium at Oslo in 1929, she studied art history at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

. She also conducted several study trips to Belgium, France, Greece and Germany . She stayed at the Swedish Archaeological Institute in Rome from 1934 to 1935. In 1937 she took her

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in art history. She received her

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in 1960. Stang was appointed at the

Norwegian Museum of Cultural History Norsk Folkemuseum (Norwegian Museum of Cultural History), at Bygdøy, Oslo, Norway, is a museum of cultural history with extensive collections of artifacts from all social groups and all regions of the country. It also incorporates a large open ...

from 1938 to 1944. From 1947 she was manager of the Vigeland Museum at

Frogner Frogner is a residential and retail borough in the East End and West End of Oslo, West End of Oslo, Norway, with a population of 59,269 as of 2020. In addition to the original Frogner, the borough incorporates Bygdøy, Uranienborg, Norway, Urani ...

. In 1966 Stang took over as director of the Oslo City Art Collections (''Oslo kommunes kunstsamlinger'') and from 1968 she was responsible for the

Munch Museum Munch Museum (), marketed as Munch (stylised in all caps) since 2020, is an art museum in Bjørvika, Oslo, Norway dedicated to the life and works of the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. The museum was originally located at Tøyen, which was opene ...

Tøyen Tøyen is a residential area in the central parts of Oslo, Norway, part of the borough of Gamle Oslo. Location There are two different stations which carry the name Tøyen. Tøyen Railway Station is located on the Gjøvik Line, while Tøyen (st ...

. She published a biography of

Gustav Vigeland Gustav Vigeland (11 April 1869 – 12 March 1943), born as Adolf Gustav Thorsen, was a Norwegian sculptor. Gustav Vigeland occupies a special position among Norwegian sculptors, both in the power of his creative imagination and in his produc ...

in 1965, and a biography of

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( ; ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His 1893 work ''The Scream'' has become one of Western art's most acclaimed images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dread of inher ...

in 1977.

Personal life

In 1934, she was married to art historian Nic. Stang (1908–1971). Their daughter

Tove Stang Dahl Tove Stang Dahl (born Tove Thiis Stang) (9 November 1938 – 11 February 1993) was a Norwegian legal scholar, criminologist, Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo from 1988 until her death, and a pioneer of " feminist juri ...

(1938–93) became a legal scholar and married historian

Hans Fredrik Dahl Hans Fredrik Dahl (born 16 October 1939) is a Norwegian historian, journalist and media scholar, best known in the English-speaking world for his biography of Vidkun Quisling, a Nazi collaborationist and Minister President for Norway during the ...

. Their other daughter, Nina Thiis Stang (1944–78), worked for

NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ; , CDAAN), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and pr ...

. She and her daughter Nina died in a car accident on a road from Nairobi to Mombasa in Kenya on 29 March 1978.

Selected works

*''De store billedhuggere og borgerrepublikken Firenze'' (1959) * ''Gustav Vigeland. En kunstner og hans verk'' (1965) *'' Edvard Munch. Mennesket og kunstneren'' (1977)

References

1909 births 1978 deaths Writers from Oslo University of Oslo alumni Norwegian women historians Norwegian women biographers Directors of museums in Norway Women museum directors 20th-century Norwegian biographers Road incident deaths in Kenya {{Norway-historian-stub