Under transept gallery, Gisors, by John Ruskin, sketch book, 1848

Ruskin's Organic Vision: Nature, Life and Art,
an exhibition arranged by Alan Davis

8 October - 22 December 2005

Among the works on display in this exhibition is Solway Moss, which has long been regarded as one of the finest images in J.M.W. Turner's Liber Studiorum - a series of engravings that plays a central part in Turner's work. Solway Moss is built up from a combination of etched lines (for outlines and accents) and mezzotint engraving (for light and shade), and Turner has made no attempt to smooth away the visible traces of this process. The lines and the shading remain distinct from each other, and the engraving may even seem quite coarse and rough in places. Solway Moss is not a neat and tidy picture. Ruskin has a word for this. He calls it 'savageness'

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Solway Moss by Joseph Mallord William Turner, engraved by Thomas Lupton, and printed in brown ink for part 11 of the Liber Studiorum, 1816

A close look at the etched lines of Solway Moss reveals how powerfully and economically they define the forms. Turner was so deeply acquainted with the natural world that he can suggest the essential shapes of foreground foliage, or the forms of cows near and far - even the way they move and group together - with a few decisive sweeps of his etching needle. Ruskin has a word for this too. He calls it 'naturalism'.

There is no repetition in the picture, either by mere habit of hand movement or through limitation of perception. Every part is uniquely drawn or gradated in a meaningful way in relation to the whole. Ruskin has a word for this also. He calls it 'changefulness'.

Tree study by John Ruskin, 1845

Curiously, when Ruskin first explained the special meaning of these three words - savageness, changefulness and naturalism - he was not discussing Turner's art at all, but architecture. They were identified by Ruskin as typical characteristics of Gothic architecture, based on his extensive exploration of nature and architecture over many years, through close study and, in particular, through drawing. They form an important part of what we might call Ruskin's 'organic vision': a way of seeing the natural world as an integrated whole, resembling a living organism in which the component parts undergo individual variation and growth, subject to certain fundamental laws of life. Ruskin insisted that artists (including the Gothic stonemasons) produce their best work when they are inspired by the natural world, for this is how 'life' enters their work. By 1860 he had realised that the same essential patterns that characterised the natural growth of leaves on a tree were also the characteristics of the composition of a great painting, and of the behaviour of an ideal society. He expressed these relationships in the form of 'The Law of Help'

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Interaction by Sandra Blow RA - copyright, The Artist

Ruskin's concepts of 'savageness', 'changefulness' and 'naturalism' are such fundamental insights, and are so deeply rooted in our responses to nature and art, that they can illuminate not merely Gothic architecture, but a wide variety of art forms and styles that Ruskin either never contemplated (as in the case of Chinese ceramics for example) or could not have contemplated because they did not exist (such as modern abstract art).

Terracotta Horse, Chinese, Tang Dynasty 618-907

This exhibition divides naturally between the two public galleries of the Ruskin Library. In Gallery 1 it traces, through Ruskin's drawings, diaries, sketchbooks and writings, the development of his organic vision of nature, art and architecture up to about 1860. His identification of the characteristics of Gothic and his concept of the Law of Help are placed in the context of that personal journey. The visitor is then invited to carry through into Gallery 2 the concepts of savageness, changefulness, naturalism, and the Law of Help, and to contemplate the works on display in the light of these ideas. Where possible, quotations from the artists themselves have been given to suggest significant comparisons with Ruskin's writings, drawings, and general outlook. The display includes ancient Chinese ceramics, British studio pottery (including the work of Edward Hughes, Bernard Leach, and Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie), abstract art (including pictures by Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Sandra Blow, Terry Frost and S.W. Hayter), and the performance art of Bob Dylan.

Large slip-decorated charger with Dalemain ash glaze by Edward Hughes

The exhibition's main purpose is experiential, not intellectual: it does not attempt to make claims for organicism as a comprehensive theory of aesthetics. Rather, it is based on two principal assertions: first, the central importance of the viewer's personal engagement with the work of art; and secondly, that the organic vision of John Ruskin can still illuminate, clarify, and enrich a wide range of aesthetic experience today.

Alan Davis

Visiting Fellow, The Ruskin Programme

Under transept gallery, Gisors, by John Ruskin, sketch book, 1848