LONDON.- To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the influential writer, thinker, artist and social reformer John Ruskin (1819 -1900), galleries, universities and cultural institutions across the world will celebrate his work, ideas and influence in a year-long programme of exhibitions, conferences and events.
Ruskin’s 200th birthday on 8 February 2019 will be celebrated at the Royal Academy, London with: All Great Art Is Praise, readings from Ruskin by Michael Palin and Dan Draper, with settings by Sarah Rodgers of his words, and music performed by tenor Richard Edgar-Wilson and the Coull Quartet.
Ruskin’s talent as artist and art critic will be celebrated in a series of exhibitions:
• Radical Victorianism: Progressive Achievements in the Age of Ruskin, Houghton Library, Harvard University, 1 Jan – 31 May
• John Ruskin: The Power of Seeing, 2 Temple Place, London, 26 Jan - 22 April
• Parabola of Pre-Raphaelitism: Turner, Ruskin, Rossetti, Morris and Burne-Jones, Mitsubishi Ichigokan Gallery, Tokyo, 23 Feb - 26 May, (then moving to Karume and Osaka, Japan)
• Turner, Ruskin and the Storm Cloud of the Modern World, York Art Gallery, York, 29 Mar – 23 June (then moving to Abbot Hall, Kendal, 11 July - 5 Oct).
• Incandescence: Turner's Venice, Brantwood, Coniston 11 April - 4 August
• Treasure from Dust: Ruskin’s Geology, Brantwood, Coniston 8 August - 11 Nov
Ruskin’s ideas and values as critic and social reformer will be explored in a series of international conferences:
• Mediating Ruskin: “Through a Kaleidoscope, Brightly”, Pau University, France, 8 - 9 February
• Ruskin and Scotland, Edinburgh University, 24 - 26 June
• Ruskin: Culture, Landscape and the Environment, Lancaster University, 27- 29 June
• Ruskin and Victorian Oxford, Christ Church, Oxford, 17 - 18 September
• Art for the Nation: John Ruskin, Art Education and Social Change, National Gallery, London, 20 – 21 September
• “A great community”: John Ruskin’s Europe, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, 7-9 October
• John Ruskin: 19th Century Visionary, 21st Century Inspiration, Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 12 -14 December
Publications marking Ruskin’s bicentenary include: Robert Hewison, Ruskin and his Contemporaries, Suzanne Fagence Cooper, The Ruskin Renaissance, 1969-2019, Andrew Hill, Ruskinland, Kevin Jackson, The Worlds of John Ruskin, Jim Spates, Why Ruskin?, Suzanne Fagence Cooper, To See Clearly: Why Ruskin Matters.
A choral evensong will be held in celebration of Ruskin’s life and work at St George’s, Bloomsbury, on 15 February.
