Journal of Art Historiography (Jun 2020)
Ruskin unleashed: towards a revised political economy of art or Joy for ever: How to use art to change the world (and its price beyond the market)
Abstract
In 1857, during the run of the Art Treasures Exhibition in Manchester, John Ruskin delivered his two-part lecture on The Political Economy Art at the Manchester Athenaeum, now the Manchester Art Gallery. He berated the city s industrialists and merchants for their laissez-faire capitalism and narrow, self-indulgent understanding of art. In this landmark lecture, Ruskin transformed himself very publicly from art critic to social critic, and yet his new economy retained art at its centre. His newly modelled eco-system was one in which nature and art played key roles rather than being a market driven system. In this article, 162 years after Ruskin delivered his lecture, Alistair Hudson revisits this watershed moment and berates the Consensus Art World for failing to take heed of Ruskin s message and argues the case for the use, re-use and misuse of Ruskin s work, as the most relevant voice in a time of political, economic, cultural and ecological turmoil.
