Ruskin at 200:
A half-day event honouring the life and work of John Ruskin, 9 January, 2-6pm in the Auditorium, Corpus Christi College.
John Ruskin (1819-1900), honorary fellow of Corpus Christi 1870-1900, was the author of critical works on art and architecture including Modern Painters (1846-1860) and the Stones of Venice (1851-3), and the political and economic treatises including Unto this Last (1860) and Munera Pulveris (1871). He is one of British literature's great prose stylists (for instance in his experimental public letters 'to the workingmen of England, Fors Clavigera, 1871-8, 1880-4); and he produced an aesthetic vision which influenced the tastes of his age, and contained a powerful denunciation of the social and political ugliness of industrialisation, unfair labour relations, and environmental pollution in his times. His late work, Praeterita (1885), is a classic of autobiography.
One of the most prominent art and social critics of his day, Ruskin's work championed JMW Turner and the Pre-Raphealites, and found an enduring legacy of influence among inheritors as diverse as Marcel Proust, Mahatma Gandhi and the British Labour Party. This half-day conference will celebrate Ruskin's 200th birthday year, and provide a discussion of Ruskin's life, work, and influence in fields including philosophy, art history, literature, psychology and politics. We aim to build this event around collective discussion of Ruskin and his legacies, for an audience of those both steeped in his work and those entirely new to it. The keynote discussion of the day will be between distinguished art critic TJ Clark and prominent psychoanalyst and writer, Adam Phillips.
The event is free and open to all. Please arrive early to ensure a seat in the auditorium.
Provisional Schedule
2.00-4.00pm Roundtable and discussion: Dr Katherine Harlowe (Reading) Professor Laura Marcus (Oxford), and Professor Jeremy Melius (Tufts) will lead a conversation on Ruskin and his influences in philosophy, psychology, life writing and Art History.
4.00-4.15 tea break
4.15-6.00 TJ Clark and Adam Phillips in discussion
6.00-7.00 Reception
Organisers: Professor Jaś Elsner and Dr David Russell
For Enquiries please contact Dr David Russell: david.russell@ccc.ox.ac.uk