John Ruskin: The Argument of the Eye


Fascinating lecture at the National Portrait Gallery by Robert Hewison on the life of John Ruskin to mark 200 years since his birth.

Hewison used Ruskin’s own writing and drawings to tell the story of his life and in particular the crisis points in it. He conjectured that Ruskin led a very visual life and that the crisis points were often precipitated by looking at a particular art work. I loved the description he gave at the start of Ruskin’s study in Venice as he began to write a memoir. The vivid picture Hewison painted was possible because Ruskin and listed the things in that study and decried the view. 

There was a good Q&A session at the end with insightful questions and good answers but the lovely touch was that Hewison got us to sing Happy Birthday to Ruskin as the actually anniversary of his birth was the next day.

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