Since the 1800s, in western civilisation, peoples’ presence
and understanding has become more and more removed from the production of
objects used in daily life. I wish to regain this presence and understanding
through the use of Ruskin’s theories on the handcrafted, from a time when the
handcrafted object was loosing dominance over the market.
In his Book The Seven Lamps of Architecture John Ruskin (1819-1900) talks us
through the purpose of Architecture, carefully separating these ideas from the
mere building itself. Giving each concept the title of a Lamp, these lamps are; Sacrifice, Truth, Power, Beauty, Life,
Memory and Obedience.
Although a number of Ruskin’s works
talk in relation to architecture, he, as well as I, see this as a sister
practice to fine art, and, therefore, I will relate these theories directly to
the practice of fine art[1]. The
reader should regard anything directly or indirectly quoted from Ruskin to be,
by myself, a shared belief unless stated otherwise. Through this text I am
going to use a number of Ruskin’s writings and lectures as reference points to help
interrogate the purpose of my practice. This will be visually displayed in a
similar character as Ruskin’s Seven Lamps
of Architecture, although references will be taken from a number of his
writings. Some of the ideas touched upon here may seem to relate to a larger philosophical
context, and this is where I wish my practice to sit. It’s also because of this
philosophical context that I believe Ruskin’s’ writings can span generations
past his own; the context can become an ideology that will never age. Ruskin
may have a roll to play in contemporary art, as currently these ideologies are
present through the release of an art award; A New Look at Nature, The John Ruskin Prize[2]
starts, for the first time, in July 2012. To me this is confirmation that his
ideologies have been able to break the boundaries of time, and will be able to
play a role in our ‘modern painters’ and other artists.
Sacrifice
Within every aspect of life sacrifices can be seen; be it a
sacrifice of time, of money, of energy or of life, sacrifices or the lack of
them add to someone’s personality. It is through sacrifice that an object is
given true life. For “an objects true delightfulness depends
on our discovering in it the record of thoughts, intents, trials, heartbreaks,
recoveries and success. In that is the worth of the things, just as worthy as
anything else we call precious. The worth of a diamond is simply the
understanding of the time it must take to look for it before it is found.”[3] Through sacrifice
an object can be given dignity; this is most noticeably given through the
passage of time or labour. “It is not now
the question whether the fairness and majesty of a building may or may not
answer any moral purpose: it is not the result of the labour in any sort which
we are speaking, but the bare and mere costliness. It’s the substance, labour
and time themselves. Sacrifice in the time spent creating something worthy,
truthful and whole.”[4]
He goes on to tell us, “for it is not the
material but the absence of human labour that makes the thing worthless.”[5]
Without this sacrifice of human time or labour an object therefore has no soul,
you are unable to discover the records stated above, it has no personality bestowed
upon it by its maker. In some cases, sacrifice has succumbed to convenience, we
have forfeited our own time for the time given by others, and through doing
thus have lost a sense of dignity within our creations. If we do not have the
skill or ability to make something to a certain standard or design that we
wish, we must sacrifice, usually time and effort, to gain this standard or
design. Through this, we allow the object to be made honestly, and with
dignity. If I can’t make a certain standard of paper, pigment or paint then
that is how it must be for my work to be honest, the aesthetic must be
sacrificed to hold honesty. In relation to sacrifice through hard work Ruskin writes; “We are none of us so good architects as to
be able to work habitually beneath our strength; and yet there is not a
building that I know of, lately raised, wherein it is not sufficiently evident
that neither architect nor builder has done his best. It is the especial
characteristic of modern work. All old work, nearly, has been hard work. It may
be the hard work of children, of barbarians or of rustics; but it is always
their utmost. Ours has as constantly the look of money’s worth, of a stopping
short wherever and whenever we can, of lazy compliance with low conditions;
never of a fair putting forth of our strengths. Let us done with this kind of
work at once: cast off every temptation to it: do not let us degrade ourselves
voluntarily, and then mutter and mourn over our shortcomings. Let us confess
our poverty or our parsimony, but not belie our human intellect.”[6]
Truth
Every object and action holds dignity within the
truth of it. Ruskin writes; “every
action, down even to the drawing of a line or utterance of a syllable, is
capable of a peculiar dignity in the manner of it, which we express as being
truly done, so also it is capable of dignity still higher in the motive of it.”[7]
Truth and honesty are the greatest bonds that relationships can be built on;
communities are brought together through truth. I believe that everything should
be truthful and honest, even if it proves the owner of that truth to be in the
wrong. If I do not achieve something as successfully as I may have wished in my
practice, I believe I will be happy as long as I’ve been true with what it is I
have done, and have been honest with the viewer. On the ideas of restraints in
order to keep something true, Ruskin writes;
“The highest greatness and the highest wisdom are shown, the first by a noble
submission to, the second by a thoughtful providence for, certain voluntary
restraints,”[8]
because, as Ruskin goes on later to state, “it may not be in our power to make it beautiful, but let it at least
be pure and true.”[9]
Through this truth I am not cheating the practice; opaqueness is created within
my work allowing the viewers to understand how I’ve arrived at certain
decisions. This openness will hopefully allow the viewer to feel more connected
to the work, and will instil a sense of humbleness within them.
Power
Anyone can be powerful dependant on how they view
power. In my eyes, staying true to what you believe is the most powerful anyone
can be. Not giving in to convenience for the sake of aesthetic or ease of
practice is powerful, and through doing this, anyone’s practice can be
powerful. Any work can contain an element of power. Ruskin writes; “it is not a question of how much we are to
do, but of how it is to be done; it is not a question doing more, but of doing
better.”[10]
Beauty
I hope to allow the viewer get a greater
understanding of beauty taken from the world surrounding us. As with power, any
object can be beautiful depending how you view that object[11].
I see variety as being beautiful; therefore I see the ‘one off’ object as being
beautiful. When reading Ruskin, James Harding comes to the conclusion that; “Variety is essential to beauty, and is so
inseparable from it, that there can be no beauty where there is no variety. As
variety is indispensible to beauty, so, perfect beauty requires that variety be
infinite. It is this infinite variety which constitutes the perfection of
nature, and the want of it which occasions every work of art to be in-perfect.”[12]
One off is emphasised here because someone can make the same object over and
over whilst still instilling a type of beauty within the object, as long as the
craftsman isn’t overly restricted. Beauty, in man made objects, is in the
faults, subtle differences and imperfections from one piece to another. You
could go on to argue that these are not imperfections but these are the signs
and subliminal signatures of certain craftsman. What could be more beautiful
than the devotion of mans whole self to accomplish a certain outcome truthfully
and honestly. I wish to devote my full self to whatever work I decide to make,
through this making my practice beautiful. Ruskin writes; “So long as men work as men, putting their heart into what they do and
doing their best, it matters not how bad workmen they may be, there will be
that in handling above all material price.”[13]
Life
The life of an object is dependant on the amount
of life and skill you’ve dedicated in the production of it, as Ruskin tells us;
“life is in the crafts men that creates
an object, it doesn’t matter what the object is made of as long as the creator
has breathed life in to the object.”[14]
The more life that has been present in the manufacture of the object will allow
more life to be imbedded within the finished object. He goes on to say; “the life and accent of the hand are
everything, they had rather not have ornament at all, than see it cut – deadly
cut that is.”[15]
Deadly cut, referring to the work of a machine. Ruskin has a hate for
machined work saying that it has lost all life due to the lack of human
interaction and intervention; saying that; “all
stamped metals and imitation woods over the invention of which we hear daily
exultation. All the short, cheap and easy ways of doing that whose difficulty
is its honour are just so many new obstacles in our already encumbered road.
They will not make one of us happier or wiser. They will only make us shallower
in our understanding, colder in our hearts and more feeble in our wit.”[16]
The life of an object
will then exist with the object thereafter; if the object is used in the
production of another object then part of this life will be passed on through
the new or current craftsman. On this Ruskin writes; “the finding of actual blocks and stone carved by other hands in other
ages, wrought walls with a new purpose being bestowed upon them.”[17]
This can only be achieved through the interaction of an aware organism; I’ll
go on to touch more on this subject next.
Memory
All the previous is only possible due to the
memories we associate with certain objects. It is finally because of our
intelligence that we can make all of the previous possible. Ruskin tells us; “although mountain peaks, broad planes and
vast seas must exist outside man to provide sources of life, man’s associations
and mans sense of self must finally create the sublime.”[18]
It is us who can put the association of the life of the craftsman to an object;
it is us who understand the sacrifices necessary to create the object being
observed. It is with this knowledge of sacrifice that we can place a truth to
something. In order to make this memory the viewer must be given enough
information to come to a thorough conclusion on the piece being displayed to
them.
Obedience
Finally it is our obedience to these six previous
moral lanterns that we can also make them all possible. We must only make or
purchase other items that are manufactured with these types of morals in mind. Ruskin
tells us: “Now this charity of thought is
not merely to be exercised towards the poor; it is to be exercised towards all
men. There is assuredly no action of our social life, however unimportant,
which, by kindly thought, may not be made to have a beneficial influence upon
others; and it is possible to spend the smallest sum of money, for any
absolutely necessary purpose, without a grave responsibility attaching to the
manner of spending it. It becomes instantly a moral question, whether we are to
indulge ourselves or not.”[19]
We are, therefore, obliged to only purchase and create objects and art that
sticks to these seven moral lanterns, because as Ruskin writes; “the plea of ignorance will never take away
our responsibilities.”[20]
Through the use of John Ruskin’s writing and
lectures I have tried to interrogate the moral boundaries my work must adhere
to. These moral boundaries place a limitation on the amount and types of work I
can produce, but also allow all of my work to hold dignity, and will allow
every piece made to be unique through the nature of the hand crafted object. In
essence, through this writing I have confirmed, to myself, the restraints I
intend to place upon my work and the rest of my practice.
[1] P203- Ruskin, J (1835-1865, Vol1 – Vol5) Modern
Painters. Smith Elder and Co, Cornwall. “Painting, Poetry and Architecture,
flowing from the same fount mutually by vision, constantly comparing poetic
allusions by natural forms in one and applying forms found in nature to the other,
meandering into streams by application, which reciprocally improve, reflect and
highten each others beauties like mirrors.”
[2] A New Look at Nature: The John Ruskin Prize (2012)
Held by the Guild of St George.
[3] P96- Ruskin, J (1925)
The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Seventy-First Thousand. Unwin Bros, LTD,
London and Woking.
[4] P20 - Ruskin, J
(1925) The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Seventy-First Thousand. Unwin Bros,
LTD, London and Woking.
[5] P99 - Ruskin, J
(1925) The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Seventy-First Thousand. Unwin Bros,
LTD, London and Woking.
[6] P27 - Ruskin, J
(1925) The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Seventy-First Thousand. Unwin Bros,
LTD, London and Woking.
[7] P8 - Ruskin, J (1925)
The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Seventy-First Thousand. Unwin Bros, LTD,
London and Woking.
[8] P77 - Ruskin, J
(1925) The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Seventy-First Thousand. Unwin Bros,
LTD, London and Woking.
[9] P86 - Ruskin, J
(1925) The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Seventy-First Thousand. Unwin Bros,
LTD, London and Woking.
[10] P38 - Ruskin, J
(1925) The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Seventy-First Thousand. Unwin Bros,
LTD, London and Woking.
[11] P66 - Ruskin,
J (1835-1865, Vol1 – Vol5) Modern Painters. Smith Elder and Co, Cornwall. “the
first that the beautiful is the true; the second that the beautiful is the
useful; the third, that it is dependent on custom; and the fourth, that it is
dependant on the association of ideas.”
[12] P7 -Harding, J (1845) Principles of Practice and Art.
[13] P309 - Ruskin, J (1925) The Seven Lamps of
Architecture. Seventy-First Thousand. Unwin Bros, LTD, London and Woking.
[14] P228 - Ruskin, J (1925) The Seven Lamps of
Architecture. Seventy-First Thousand. Unwin Bros, LTD, London and Woking.
[15] P309 - Ruskin, J (1925) The Seven Lamps of Architecture.
Seventy-First Thousand. Unwin Bros, LTD, London and Woking.
[16] P317 - Ruskin, J (1925) The Seven Lamps of
Architecture. Seventy-First Thousand. Unwin Bros, LTD, London and Woking.
[17] P227 - Ruskin, J (1925) The Seven Lamps of
Architecture. Seventy-First Thousand. Unwin Bros, LTD, London and Woking.
[18] P221 - Ruskin, J (1835-1865, Vol1 – Vol5) Modern
Painters. Smith Elder and Co, Cornwall.
[19] P72-73 - Freedberg, S (1978)
Lectures on Architecture and Art at Edinburgh by John Ruskin 1854. Garland
Publishing, New York and London.
[20] P73 - Freedberg, S (1978)
Lectures on Architecture and Art at Edinburgh by John Ruskin 1854. Garland
Publishing, New York and London.
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