Sublime Nature - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Sublime Nature

John Ruskin

1819 - 1900

“

Forms

which are not taken from nature must be ugly…”Slide2

Biography

John Ruskin was born in 1819 in southern London and was the only son of Margaret and John James Ruskin.

His father was a wine importer, and one of the founding partners of Pedro Domecq and mother was a devout Evangelical Protestant.

Ruskin received his early education from home until the age of 12, and in 1836, he enrolled as a gentleman-commoner at Christ Church, Oxford.

In 1839, while at Christ Church, he won the Oxford Newdigate for poetry, and received his degree in 1842.

Married Euphemia Chalmers Gray in 1848, and 6 years later the marriage was annulled, and much controversy followed. During the time that he was married to Gray, he wrote and or published the following:

1849 : The Seven Lamps in Architecture was published

1851 : Volume I of

T

he Stones of Venice was written

1853 : Volume II and III of The Stones of Venice was written

Through out his lifetime, Ruskin wrote over 250 works, which covered architecture, art history, effects of pollution, geology, literary criticism, mythology, ornithology, and science.

Taught at Working Men’s College and later was elected to both Oxford Professorship and Slade Professorship.

John Ruskin died at his home in Brantwood on January 20, 1900.Slide3

The Seven Lamps in Architecture

1849

Contents

The Lamp of Sacrifice

The Lamp of Truth

The Lamp of Power

The Lamp of Beauty

The Lamp of Life

The Lamp of Memory

The Lamp of Obedience

Conceptual scheme of The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Journal of Aesthetics and Art CriticismSlide4

Purpose and Meaning

The Seven Lamps of Architecture points the architect in a direction, and how architecture design should produce a meaning.

Ruskin himself, understands the skin of building and ornamentation, which he considers the most important element in architecture.

“

O

rnament is the expression of it’s creator state of mind.”

The seven lamps represent the seven original Christian churches and the lamps themselves act as laws for architects and the demands that architecture should meet.

When discussing materials, he is referring to the technical innovations from the industrial revolution. These innovations have responded at such a fast pace that they threaten to overwhelm the great ends of architecture

When designing, materials have a double reference:

The materials used should show the spirit of the building

The materials should show the moral condition of the workman

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The Lamp of Sacrifice

The focus is on the Biblical God, who demands obedience and love, and this is to be shown visibly in ornate churches.

The sacrifice that is demanded is one that is not in human terms, but a sacrifice of the materials in architecture.

Architecture is an expressive art and an aspiration towards God as he reveals himself throughout nature’s beauty.

Through the sacrifice of labor, materials, and craft, the structure is not to compel religious awe, but rather demonstrate the inward condition of the spirit.

“It is not the church we want, but the sacrifice; not the mention of admiration, but the act of adoration; not the gift, but the giving.”Slide6

The Lamp of Truth

The architecture should show honest

workmanship and openly display its materials,

while remaining true to its medium- issues that rank high among advocates of a Gothic Revival

When a person is observing the buildings architecture, they should be able to see the relationship between the building’s actual and apparent construction

Architectural

Deceits are broadly to be considered under three heads:

1

st

: The suggestion of a mode of structure or support, other than the true one;

as in

pendants

of late Gothic roofs.

2

nd

: The painting of surfaces to represent some other material than that of

which they

actually consist (as in the marbling of wood), or the deceptive

representation of

sculptured ornament upon them.

3

rd

: The use of cast or machine-made ornaments of any kind.

Ruskin does state that there is an exception to The Lamp of Truth:

“

That the practice of cladding masonry walls with marble or other kinds of precious stones is justified by noting that it is generally understood that such precious metals will not be used for the whole thickness of a wall, so there is no deceit.”Slide7

The Lamp of Power

The architecture of the building should be thought of as a shape, that has a structure of masses

The interest of the architecture will depend mostly upon the impression that it receives from human powers and society, and the image it bears of natural creation

T

he

efforts, both physical or organizational, invested in the construction by its

builders as seen in the Gothic Churches

Plate VII:

Pierced ornaments from Lisieux, Bayeux, Verona, and Padua. Slide8

The Lamp of Beauty

In The Lamp of Beauty, he talks about figurative ornament, and this is dealing with the composition and color of the ornamentation of the architecture

O

rnamentation should

be from nature, rather than geometrical or

abstract and should deal with color in relation to form

The beauty can best be enjoyed by one who is unconcerned with either practical or intellectual affairs, but rather, is in the spirit of the work

The

relationship of the entire system of architectural decoration may then be expressed:

1.Organic

form dominant. True, independent sculptures, and alt-relievo; rich capitals

, and

moldings

; to be elaborate in completion of form, not abstract, and

either

to be left in

pure white

marble, or most cautiously touched with color in

points

and borders

only

, in a system

not

concurrent with their forms

2

. Organic form sub-dominant. Basso-relievo or intaglio. To be more abstract in

proportion

to

the

reduction of depth; to be also more rigid and simple in

contour

; to be

touched

with color

more

boldly and in an increased degree,

exactly

in proportion to the

reduced

depth and

fullness

of form, but still in a

system

non-concurrent with their forms

3

. Organic form abstracted to outline. Monochrome design, still farther reduced

to

simplicity

of

contour, and therefore admitting for the first time the color to

be

concurrent with its

outlines

; that is to say, as its name imports, the entire

figure

to be detached in one

color

from

a ground of another

4

. Organic forms entirely lost. Geometrically patterns or variable

clouding

in the

most

vivid

color Slide9

Sublime Nature

The Lamp of Beauty

Proportion

Here Ruskin refers to the vertical dimensions, symmetry to the horizontal; that proportion does not exist between equal things. You must have at least three things, one that is dominant over the others; symmetry is balancing equal quantities rather than mirroring the left side to the right side

“But symmetry is not abstraction. Leaves may be carved in the most regular order, and yet be meanly imitative; or, on the other hand, they maybe thrown wild and loose, and yet be highly architectural in their separate treatment

Plate XIII:

Portions of an arcade on the south side of the Cathedral of Ferrara.

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The Lamp of Life

The building itself should be planned and constructed by human hands, making the allowances and

alterations,

and stamping the finished work with their own mark

Association is with joy and happiness of masons and stone carvers, who with considered freedom in the execution of their tasks once raised the

building is shown in Plate XII

Fig

. 1 Shows a singular instance both of rude execution and defied symmetry

.

Fig. 4 Shows perfect execution of the sculpture and

Plate XII:

Fragments from Abbeville, Lucca, Venice, and PisaSlide11

Sublime Nature

The Crystal Palace was built from

pre-fabricated

iron and glass and so Ruskin felt that the worker couldn’t take pride in this

building. To Ruskin, this was like “slavery”

In the sketch of sculptures, Ruskin is showing the time and craftsmanship that went into this Gothic Cathedral

The Industrial Revolution was very much disliked by Ruskin

Crystal Palace from the Great

Exhibition of 1851

Plate XIV:

Sculptures from the Cathedral of Rouen

The Lamp of Life Slide12

The Lamp of Memory

These

architectural structures

should be constructed for the ages, and should inevitably embody the

culture of that area.

In time, the architecture should speak of its own history as it should be intertwined with that of human institutions, like a family, city, or state.

Another reason that Ruskin is apposed to iron and glass is because it does not age like clay, wood, or stone. These three materials over time will weather and eventually have the “Golden Stain” of time.

Ruskin

was opposed to

restoration

and in fact, he

states:

“

We have no right whatever to touch them. They are not ours.

They belong

partly to

those

who built them, and partly to all the generations

of

mankind who follow. Take

proper

care of your monuments,

and

you

will

not need to restore them.” Slide13

The Lamp of Obedience

Ruskin shows how all the forms of noble architecture has some sort of embodiment of the polity, life, history, and religious

f

aith of Nations.

Polity owes its stability

Life is the happiness

History is its continuance to stand over time

Faith is acceptance

These lamps are

principles and they should be considered the same as the laws that man lives by

Ruskin suggests adopting certain styles and they include:

The Pisan Romanesque

The early Gothic of Western Italian Republics

The Venetian Gothic in its purist development

The English earliest decorated

Of these four, Ruskin chooses the last style, because it is the most natural of the four

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Sublime Nature

The End