Ruskin Society
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Ruskin Society
@ruskinsociety.bsky.social
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Founded in 1997, the Ruskin Society celebrates the life, work and legacy of the Victorian art critic and social thinker John Ruskin.
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ruskinsociety.bsky.social
With Ruskin's birthday coming up, it is a moment to reflect on the lasting influence of his mother, Margaret Ruskin. See our Instagram post
@ruskinsociety bit.ly/3NnYER8

#MargaretRuskin #JohnRuskin #RuskinSociety #Praeterita #RuskinStudies #VictorianCulture #WomenInHistory #RuskinToday
January 17, 2026 at 1:36 PM
ruskinsociety.bsky.social
Shortlisted for the Ruskin Society Book Prize 2025. Winner announced on 7 Feb 2026 @ our AGM: S. L. Maurer, J. Stoddart, D. K. Kreisel, A. Woodson-Boulton (eds), Ruskin After 200: Thinking with Ruskin in the Twenty-First Century @springernature.com @olemiss.bsky.social @notredame.bsky.social
Shortlisted for the Ruskin Society Book Prize 2025. Winner announced at the Society’s AGM on 7 Feb 2026: S. L. Maurer, J. Stoddart, D. K. Kreisel, A. Woodson-Boulton (eds), Ruskin After 200: Thinking with Ruskin in the Twenty-First Century This edited volume explores new ways of thinking with the work of John Ruskin, whose writings ranged across art, architecture, education, economics, and the natural sciences, and who became an increasingly forceful critic of industrial capitalism and environmental damage. Two centuries after his birth, Ruskin continues to matter, though the terms of that relevance have shifted. Bringing together a range of contemporary scholars, the book reflects current approaches to Ruskin’s work and the questions readers now bring to it. The essays show how scholars continue to engage critically with Ruskin’s ambitious and often difficult writing—work that is imaginative and far-reaching, but also shaped by the limitations and prejudices of its time. Sara L. Maurer is Associate Professor Emerita of English at the University of Notre Dame, USA. Judith Stoddart is Vice Provost for University Arts and Collections and Associate Professor of English at Michigan State University, USA. Deanna K. Kreisel is Associate Professor of English and co-director of Environmental Studies at the University of Mississippi, USA. Amy Woodson-Boulton is Professor of History at Loyola Marymount University, USA. @profamywb) @palgrave_macmillan @olemiss @loyolamarymount @msuprovost @notredame #RuskinSociety #RuskinBookPrize #JohnRuskin #ArchitecturalHistory #ArtHistory
January 12, 2026 at 2:50 PM
ruskinsociety.bsky.social
Shortlisted for the Ruskin Society Book Prize 2025. The winner will be announced at the Society’s AGM on 7 Feb 2026. The Stones of Venice, edited by William C. McKeown. @utpress @uofmemphis.bsky.social
Shortlisted for the Ruskin Society Book Prize 2025. The winner will be announced at the Society’s AGM on 7 Feb 2026. The Stones of Venice, edited by William C. McKeown. @utpress @uofmemphis The Stones of Venice, edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by William C. McKeown (University of Toronto Press, 2025) is the first unabridged edition of any major work by Ruskin in recent years restoring Ruskin’s great study of Venetian architecture as moral and cultural history for today’s readers. When John Ruskin published The Stones of Venice in the early 1850s, he offered far more than an architectural survey. Through a critique of Venetian building traditions, Ruskin set medieval craftsmanship against Renaissance formality and linked architectural style to broader moral and social values. His prose, both passionate and precise, shaped how generations of readers understood Venice and encouraged wider reflection on the ethical dimensions of modern design. For more than a century the book has been available only in shortened editions, which focused on its descriptive brilliance but lost sight of much of Ruskin’s wider argument. This new unabridged edition restores the work in full, including sections long omitted, Ruskin’s supplementary materials, and a range of his original drawings reproduced directly rather than through later engravings. It also brings together Ruskin’s own catalogue of Venice’s key buildings, updated with contemporary notes, alongside an appendix of related writings and a substantial introduction that situates the book within the course of Ruskin’s life and intellectual development.
January 12, 2026 at 2:15 PM
ruskinsociety.bsky.social
Shortlisted for the Ruskin Society Book Prize 2025. The winner will be announced at the Society’s AGM on 7 Feb 2026. The Art and Life of Francesca Alexander by Jacqueline Marie Musacchio, the first full study of the Boston born artist admired by Ruskin @lhartbooks @wellesleycollege
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Shortlisted for the Ruskin Society Book Prize 2025. The winner will be announced at the Society’s AGM on 7 Feb 2026. The Art and Life of Francesca Alexander by Jacqueline Marie Musacchio, the first full study of the Boston born artist admired by Ruskin. This book offers the first full study of the life and work of the American-born artist Francesca Alexander (1837–1917). After moving with her family to Florence in the mid-nineteenth century, she became part of an international cultural circle and developed a largely self-taught artistic practice focused on Italian life and landscape. Her drawings, translations, and writings attracted wide admiration, including from John Ruskin, who published several of her manuscripts and championed her work. Alexander used the income from her art and publications to support charitable causes, and contemporaries often connected her reputation for selflessness with idealised views of Italy. Despite her prominence during her lifetime, her work later slipped from view. Drawing on artworks, letters, diaries, and a range of contemporary sources, this book reconstructs Alexander’s career and restores her to her place within nineteenth-century art and cultural history.
January 12, 2026 at 2:03 PM
ruskinsociety.bsky.social
AGM & Birthday Lecture 7 February 2026 @2pm Members and friends are warmly invited to our annual event held in London. This year’s Birthday Lecture will be given by Professor Robert Hewison on “Arrows of the Chase: Ruskin and the Press”. The afternoon will also include the announcement of the Ruskin Book Prize 2025 winner. Booking details via the link in our bio or on https://bit.ly/3N70VA6 We very much look forward to welcoming you.
January 12, 2026 at 1:41 PM
ruskinsociety.bsky.social
As we enter the New Year, the Ruskin Society sends warm wishes to all its members and friends. We hope the months ahead bring renewed attention to a beauty rooted in truth, craft, and care for the world. We look forward to another year of shared reading, dialogue, and fellowship. 🎉
January 12, 2026 at 1:38 PM
ruskinsociety.bsky.social
We are pleased to be here. 😀
This space will be used to share news, events, and reflections related to John Ruskin, the nineteenth century writer, art critic, and social thinker.
January 12, 2026 at 1:31 PM