William Morris versus John Ruskin

Chuck Grimes cgrimes at tsoft.com
Wed Dec 20 08:50:55 PST 2000


I wouldn't go so far as to call your opinion an "organicist claptrap," but it does unpleasantly remind me of John Ruskin of whom I am not fond. If you like arts & crafts, would you be so kind as to move at least into the direction of William Morris? (Yoshie)

-----------

Well not to push it much, but for the record, I was writing about sculpture and architecture, not arts and crafts. I had to look up Morris and Ruskin in order to remember who they were. It's too bad what I wrote reminded you of them. They couldn't be more distant from Isamu Noguchi and his reflections on Japanese traditions as a Japanese American.

The contrast is pretty stunning:

http://www.serial-design.com/noguchi.htm (Noguchi)

and:

http://home.sol.no/~vals/morris.html#commune

(Morris) http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/wmorris/designs.htm

So that list members can at least orient themselves, if they wish, Ruskin and Morris were part of the arts and crafts revival movement in England in the late 19c. Movements like it rose all over Europe and the US as industrialization and mass production began to effect and change every aspect of daily life. Art Nouveau is the most famous of these. Ruskin and Morris were part of what was known as the Gothic Revival and were associated with the Fabian socialists. Ruskin taught drawing in the Workingman's College of London and was an art critic. Morris was known for interior and graphic design, bookmaking and typography.

Chuck Grimes



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list