Ruskin Today Chosen and Annotated by Kenneth Clark

 Peregrine Books, 1967, softcover, index, 361 pages, condition: new.

A literary anthology of the works of Victorian art critic and social theorist John Ruskin, selected, arranged, and contextualised by the prominent British art historian Kenneth Clark.

This volume serves as an accessible gateway into Ruskin's massive and often intimidating bibliography.

Kenneth Clark, who grew up deeply influenced by Ruskin's belief that great art should be universally accessible, curated the anthology to showcase how Ruskin's insights remained profoundly relevant to the 20th century.The book is structured into six thematic categories that encapsulate the multi-faceted nature of Ruskin's mind:

John Ruskin the Man: Personal writings, letters, and biographical excerpts illustrating his complex personality, intense family ties, and tumultuous private life.

Nature: Passages dedicated to Ruskin's acute powers of observation, focusing on geology, botany, and the natural landscape which shaped his worldview.

Art: Core art criticism highlighting his championing of J.M.W. Turner and his principles of visual truth.

Architecture: Landmark texts taken from his influential works like The Seven Lamps of Architecture and The Stones of Venice.

Society and Economics: Crucial excerpts reflecting his transition from art critic to a fierce social reformer who challenged Victorian industrial capitalism.

Praeterita: Selections from his deeply poetic, unfinished autobiography.

Kenneth Clark was a British art historian, museum director and broadcaster. His expertise covered a wide range of artists and periods, but he is particularly associated with Italian Renaissance art, most of all that of Leonardo da Vinci. After running two art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television, presenting a succession of programmes on the arts from the 1950s to the 1970s, the largest and best known being the Civilisation series.