‘Teaching silkworms to spin’: Ruskin and Textiles

An exhibition in two sections, it begins with Victorian John Ruskin’s theories of ethical textile production, then offers examples of work inspired by Ruskin from the late 19th Century to the present. These include period examples such as the Langdale Linen Industry, through to contemporary pieces by the Lancs & Lakes Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers.

The slideshow below shows a small selection from the exhibition including: collection items from the Ruskin Library, Guild of St George Collection (Museums Sheffield) and Whitelands College (University of Roehampton); and craft items by Rachel Dickinson, Geraldine Elliott, Kate McBride, Audrey Pemberton, Janet Penlington and Jen Shepherd.

The exhibition is curated by Rachel Dickinson (Manchester Metropolitan University) and the staff of the Ruskin Library.

For further information see the catalogue to accompany the exhibition – contact the Ruskin Library for details.

All images (c) Ruskin Library and contributors.

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Library Edition of the Works of John Ruskin

The second volume of the Letters of John Ruskin (volume 37 of the Library Edition) is now available at

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/ruskinlib/Letters

The Letters of John Ruskin. Volume 1: 1827-1869

Volume 36 of the Library Edition of the Works of John Ruskin is now available online.  This is the first volume of letters, covering 1827-1869 and includes correspondence with Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Charles Eliot Norton and his cousin Joan Severn.

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/ruskinlib/Letters%20I

Mikimoto Memorial Lecture 2012

Dr Tristram Hunt on ‘Ruskin, Engels and the City’

The philosophies of Friedrich Engels and John Ruskin were both powerfully shaped by the Victorian city. In its filth, vulgarity, and rampant individualism, they found a telling symbol of all the failings of industrial capitalism. All that was wrong with laissez-faire society could be found in 1840s Manchester. But their competing visions of a socialist alternative entailed very different futures for city life: for Engels, modernity and suburbia; for Ruskin, preservation and urban density. In their blistering prose and inspiring polemics, they offered two ideals of civic socialism which continue to influence urban debate today.

For those who didn’t manage to get to the lecture, it is now available online at http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/ruskin/Mikimoto/index.html

New Publications

Ruskin and the Sacred

The catalogue for this exhibition is now available from the Ruskin Library – contact us for details.

Christmas Cards

Christmas cards in three designs (Adoration of the Magi, Leaves and Berries and Ruskin, Baxter and Bramble) are available to buy in the Ruskin Library.

Ruskin Review and Bulletin

Volume 8(2) is now available from the Ruskin Library – it includes articles by Paul Dawson, Stuart Eagles and James Dearden amongst others, along with book reviews and news from the Ruskin Library.

For details of how to purchase, please contact the Ruskin Library or go to http://online-payments.lancaster-university.co.uk/browse/product.asp?catid=21&modid=1&compid=1

    

Workshop with St Bernadette’s School, Lancaster – 16 October 2012

Today we’ve welcomed St Bernadette’s School for a morning of making books and drawing.  some of the pictures can be seen below – for others, have a look at our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.281210688662908.65162.212222422228402&type=1#!/pages/Ruskin-Library/212222422228402

For more general information about school workshops, see

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/ruskinlib/Pages/schools.html

New Exhibition – Ruskin and the Sacred

The Ruskin Library’s exhibition Ruskin and the Sacred explores a variety of ways in which the sacred plays a part in John Ruskin’s life and work.  The exhibition brings together work by Ruskin, including examples of his drawings and studies, letters and books from his library, alongside the work of friends and family and paintings that he commissioned.  It demonstrates Ruskin’s approach to both art and nature and looks to his wider social concerns, with his belief that “there is no Wealth but Life”.   

The expression of the sacred is considered with examples of religious subjects in art, and with landscape pictures and mountain studies.  The display includes detailed drawings of churches and cathedrals, studies of sacred sculpture and the work of Angelo Alessandri, Raffaele Carloforti and Charles Fairfax Murray.   Also included are Ruskin’s notable life-size copy of Zipporah, after Botticelli (right), the Study of the central portion of Tintoretto’s ‘Crucifixion’ and the North West Porch of St. Mark’s, Venice.

Open until 14 December 2012

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/ruskinlib/Pages/sacred.html