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Compare And Contrast John Ruskin And Naturalism

1937 Words8 Pages
A display of John Ruskin’s ideas on Naturalism in the work of Frank Lloyd Wright John Ruskin was a nineteenth-century British writer and art critic of the Victorian era. Nature was a recurring theme in all of his writings which were usually cross-referencing one another and intersecting chronologically. He wrote the first volume of Modern Painters in 1843 followed by the second volume in 1846. He then stopped to write ‚The Seven Lamps of Architecture‘ in 1849 and three volumes of ‘The Stones Of Venice‘ throughout 1851-53, finishing the last 2 volumes of ‚Modern Painters‘ in 1856. In the chapter ‘The Nature of Gothic’ from “The Stones of Venice’ Ruskin mentions ‘Naturalism’ as one of the main characteristics of Gothic architecture. Although Ruskin used this term in the context of Gothic architecture, over the years the concept of ‘Naturalism’ has influenced many architects in how they understand architecture in relation with nature. Frank Lloyd Wright was one of those architects and Ruskin’s influence could even be traced to Wright’s introduction to architecture as the first book he read on it was written by Ruskin. Since that first book Wright focused on nature as a dominant theme in his work and in this essay I will be exploring how the concept of ‘Naturalism’ has influenced Wright’s philosophy of architecture and how it manifested at various parts of his life. Out of the six moral elements of Gothic architecture, Ruskin gives more attention to ‘Naturalism’ than to
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