The Two Paths: Being Lectures on Art and Its Application to Decoration and Manufacture Delivered in 1858-9In The Two Paths, Ruskin connects his theories of art with economic and practical life. The central theme of Ruskin's theories of art was that contented individuals-working within a just society and striving to capture the essence of nature-produce fine and noble art, while corrupt and despondent individuals-working within an unjust society and relying on the tools of the machine age-produce inferior art. Ruskin's essays anticipate and complement theoretical approaches by critics such as Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, and Max Horkheimer. Offering a reconsideration of the rhetorical tradition from a visual perspective, this Prospects in Visual Rhetoric Critical Edition is the only edition of The Two Paths currently in print. The introductions and annotations were designed to facilitate critical discussions of Ruskin's theories of art, his role as a social reformer, his visual rhetoric, and the historical/political contexts of his work. The editor's notes define names and cultural allusions in the text, which also includes all appendices and Ruskin's own introduction and illustrations. About the Author John Ruskin (1819-1900), best known for his studies of design and its social and historical implications, is perhaps the greatest critic of culture and art in English history. About the Editor Christine Roth is assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh, where she teaches and writes about nineteenth-century British literature and the Pre-Raphaelite movement. |
Contents
The Deteriorative Power of Conventional Art over Nations | 3 |
The Unity of Art | 29 |
Modern Manufacture and Design | 47 |
Influence of Imagination in Architecture | 69 |
The Work of Iron in Nature Art and Policy | 91 |
Appendix IV from The Two Paths | 123 |
APPENDIX VI EDITORS NOTES | 140 |
WORKS BY AND ABOUT JOHN RUSKIN | 151 |
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Common terms and phrases
Appendix architect architecture artists beautiful building carve century colour consider conventional Copley Fielding Correggio Critical decoration delight drawing E. T. Cook earth England English eyes fancy feel figure gift give Gothic art Greek ground hand heart human imagination imitate inferior invented iron ironwork Italy J.M.W. Turner John Ruskin kind labour landscape leaves lectures less lines living look Manchester manufacture marble matter means mind Modern Painters moral mouldings nation natural fact never Nino Pisano noble observe once ornament Oxford painting Paths peace perfect perhaps Phidias picture pleasure possible pre-Raphaelites precisely principles produce Prout Reynolds sculpture soul Stones of Venice style suppose teach tell thing thought Tintoret tion Titian touch true truth ture Turner University of Oxford Unto This Last Velasquez Venetian Victorian Visual Rhetoric whole wholly words workman yourselves