Ruskin and Oxford

John Ruskin (1819-1900) was considered the greatest critic of art, culture, and society of the 19th century.

Throughout his life, from his undergraduate days in the 1830s, to his service as the University's first Slade Professor of Art in the 1870s and 1880s, Oxford profoundly influenced the course of his career.

He proved a controversial professor, and when he broke with the university, an angry and disappointed man, even his closest friends must have been relieved to see him go.

Yet in the 100 years since then, the value of his contribution has come to be better appreciated.

This illustrated study, based on an exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, explains Ruskin's true intentions in founding the Ruskin School of Drawing at Oxford, and describes his lifelong commitment to the art of drawing, and to its value as an educational tool.

The story is told through Ruskin's own drawings, and the work of those he chose to help him in a project that was central to his social and critical beliefs.