This "tour de force of analysis" (Joel Agee) examines the life and work of the prolific, visionary writer, painter and critic. Kemp finds in Ruskin's life -- which spanned the same years as Queen Victoria's and thus embodied the Victorian era itself -- a faithful mirror of the history and psychological evolution of his age.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Examining the English critic alongside Byron, Carlyle, Karl Kraus and others of his time, and considering views of him given by Shaw and Proust, the author, a German art historian, contends that Ruskin (1819-1900) was a reflection of Victorian history and pathology. Kemp regards him as not only a major reformer, educator and ecologist, but also as a great realistic draftsman whose drawings reveal developing emotional instability. Increasingly, Ruskin's attention moved from art to society as he came to criticize capitalism, religion, technology, the destruction of nature--and himself. First sightseer, then see-er, finally seer and mythmaker, Ruskin in his old age became industry as well as institution: there were Ruskin ceramics and linens, even Ruskin cigars. This distinguished work, gracefully translated, is illustrated with portraits of the critic and drawings by him.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Artist, writer, and world traveler, Ruskin moved vigorously through Victorian times with a unique view of the way things were and a strong conviction regarding the way they should be. His ideas, whether aesthetic, moral, or political, influenced lay audiences as well as his artistic and intellectual peers. The portraits that open each chapter of this book provide a literal as well as literary depiction of this man, too often seen as either saint or madman. But though the renewed interest in Ruskin may allow for a more balanced view of the man and his ideas, this somewhat awkward translation of a 1983 introduction for German audiences is too superficial to provide such a portrait.
-Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Desire of My Eyes,
This review is from: The Desire of My Eyes: The Life & Work of John Ruskin (Paperback)
Very extensive biography of a man who was a Man of his Time, the Victorian Era and who was both a "seer and a prophet". His ideas about the preservation of nature, economics and social reform still resonate today.
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Engaging Biography of Ruskin and Account of the Victorian Era,
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This review is from: The Desire of My Eyes: The Life & Work of John Ruskin (Paperback)
I got this book because I wanted an introduction to John Ruskin, who was a famous art critic and social critic in Victorian Britain, and this biography does an excellent job of narrating the major events of Ruskin's life, explaining Ruskin's major ideas, and describing the world that Ruskin lived in. Interestingly enough, this book was originally written in German and then translated into English, which explains why the author sometimes compares Ruskin's ideas to contemporaries living in Germany, but it works.
1 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good book.,
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This review is from: The Desire of My Eyes: The Life & Work of John Ruskin (Paperback)
This is really good book
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