William Morris and John Ruskin: a new road on which the world should travel

Abstract

A wide-ranging collection of essays written for the William Morris Society exploring the various intersections between the life, work and achievements of William Morris (1834-1896) and that of John Ruskin (1819-1900). Subjects covered include Ruskin's connection with the Pre-Raphaelite movement, the promotion of craft skills and meaningful work, Morris and the division of labour, Ruskin's engagement with education and the environment, Ruskin and the art and architecture of Red House, the parallels between Ruskin's support for Laxey Mill and Morris's Merton Abbey Works, the illustrated manuscript and the contrasts between Ruskin's Tory paternalism and Morris's revolutionary socialism. The book includes articles first published in The Journal of William Morris Studies between 1977 and 2012 and new pieces written especially for this volume. Ruskin's beliefs had a profound and lasting impact on Morris who wrote, upon first reading Ruskin whilst at Oxford University, that his views offered a "new road on which the world should travel" - a road that led Morris to social and political change.

Contents

1. Ruskin and Morris / Peter Faulkner -- 2. John Ruskin: patron or patriarch? / Robert Brownell -- 3. 'This link between the Earth and Man': Ruskin, nature and education / Sara Atwood -- 4. Red House and Ruskin / Jacques Migeon -- 5. Morris and Pre-Raphaelitism / Peter Faulkner -- 6. Ruskin and Fairfax Murray / David Elliott -- 7. John Ruskin, William Morris and the illuminated manuscript / Evelyn J. Phimister -- 8. Medievalism in Morris's aesthetic theory / Michael Naslas -- 9. 'Bawling the right road': Morris and Ruskinian social criticism / Chris Brooks -- 10. From art to politics: William Morris and John Ruskin / Lawrence Goldman -- 11. Laxey Mill: Ruskin's parallel to Merton Abbey / David Faldet -- 12. William Morris and the division of labour: the idea of work in News from Nowhere / Christopher Shaw -- 13. Ruskin's Tory paternalism / John Blewitt.