GH owns a collection of twenty-three volumes of The Collected Works of John Ruskin, NY: Frank F. Lovell & Co., 1920, bound in tan calfskin with gilt decorated spines. GH wonders how ONE author became so prolific. Many consider John Ruskin (1819-1900) a polymath. That fancy-pants term refers to the acquisition of wide ranging knowledge to enable problem-solving in unique ways.
These twenty volumes contain Ruskin’s thoughts on art and artists, geology, bird life, literature, architecture, the working man, economic theory, botany, fairy tales and classical myth. He firmly believed in nature, art, morality, and craftsmanship. His writings fell out of favor after the 1930s but because of his stance on sustainability his works remain prized today, as a highly influential late Victorian.
John Ruskin and JMW Turner
In the most valuable volume in this set, Modern Painters (1843), he defended the maligned JMW Turner. Then labeled a hack, Turner is now considered one of the finest British watercolorists. Ruskin lauded Turner’s “truth to nature.” He first published the book, perceived controversial, anonymously. Ruskin uniquely combined aesthetics with high moral ethics.
He found truth in the image of nature painted by Turner, and because Turner painted what HE saw, he found the work itself truthful, honest, and therefore moral. In 1843 he contentiously defended Turner because Turner didn’t paint in the accepted style of the Old Masters. Post-Renaissance artists composed in an academic style in the studio. Ruskin slammed the Old Masters, writing that they didn’t OBSERVE nature. Turner, now considered one of the first abstract painters, “caught” the atmosphere of nature in shapes of light and shadow, such as steam, clouds, and water. Lack of form intrigued Turner as detailed structure fascinated the Old Masters. Ruskin found truth in Turner’s spontaneity and personal vision.
Professor Ruskin
Ruskin championed the outré contemporary style of his day, influencing the Pre-Raphaelites, named such because they endeavored to paint in a style practiced BEFORE the Old Masters. He became a professor of Art at Oxford, and formed “The Ruskin School” of drawing. The school focused on immediate, informal, un-stylized techniques, with an emphasis of truth to nature, because only direct observation was right and moral. He also taught drawing at the Working Man’s School, London, and admiring young female artists, instructed at girl’s schools.
You might say, this scholar considered all people equal, but no, he did not. He believed equality in society not possible and also believed some men naturally superior. However, competition is destructive. He longed to return to the Medieval era, when society observed rank and status, and obedience to the established order and God was life itself.
Another Notable Volume in GH’s Set
In The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849) Ruskin writes about truth in architecture, found in the style before the Renaissance, before the re-discovered of classical architecture. Ruskin advocated a return to the Medieval Gothic style, and he himself illustrated this book with examples. Ruskin proposed reinstating the Medieval Craftsman’s Guild system, as an alternative to the workers in factories of industrial capitalism. In The Seven Lamps he set forth the guiding principles of architecture as sacrifice, truth, power, beauty, life, memory, and obedience. If GH finds the time to read twenty-three volumes, he will discover a high moral tone, although Ruskin’s personal life was checkered with scandal.
You may wonder why Ruskin matters to a Californian who lives in a bungalow with California Plein Air paintings on the walls. Ruskin’s philosophy influenced William Morris, the founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement in England. Morris founded a Craft Center devoted to the following principles:
- no division of labor
- the adoption of the Medieval Guild system
- hand-crafted materials (antimachine)
- anti-capitalistic cooperation.
Craftsman architecture should fit the land and be hand-built, and the best style for homes was the bungalow style. From England in the late 19th century, this style came to California. Santa Barbara serves as a notable example of the Arts and Crafts influence.
Ruskin’s admiration of JMW Turner extended past the artist’s death because Turner appointed Ruskin his executor. 20,000 of Turner’s works on paper were bequeathed to the British National Gallery. Ruskin catalogued and curated all of those works, and hand-built the Turner Gallery, exposing the Nation to Turner’s exquisite oeuvre.
The value of the twenty-three volumes is slightly diminished because GH is missing ONE of the original twenty-four, at $1,000 the collection.