Ruskin To-Day is an informal organisation that exists to celebrate the life and ideas of the artist, critic and social reformer John Ruskin (1819-1900). It brings together the activities of the many different societies, academic institutions and individuals who share an interest in Ruskin and in the many different aspects of his work. This website serves as a noticeboard to draw attention to the many Ruskinian events that take place across the world.
THE RUSKIN SOCIETY BOOK PRIZE 2026
The Ruskin Society Book Prize for 2026 has been won by William C. Mckeown’s new and complete
edition of The Stones of Venice, published by the University of Toronto Press
We reproduce this report by Professor Stephen Wildman, chair of the judges for the Ruskin Society
(of London)
Last year started slowly in respect of Ruskin publications but gratifyingly picked up in the last quarter. As members have been informed, there are three strong candidates for this year’s Book Prize.
Unabridged new editions of any major Ruskin book are rare – even David Barrie’s hefty single-volume Modern Painters, first published in 1987 and revised for the Ruskin centenary in 2000 had to be pruned – but The Stones of Venice (University of Toronto Press), edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by William C. McKeown, associate professor of history of art at the University of Memphis, Tennessee, is that and more. Digitized text is all very well, but does not allow the kind of cross-referencing essential in reading Ruskin, especially in relation to the illustrations, all of which appear. At over 1000 pages and weighing several pounds, this is not something for hand luggage on a trip to La Serenissima, but with its cogent Introduction and additional material (new Editors’ notes, as well as related Ruskin writings on Venice) it is a signal achievement.
By contrast, Jacqueline Marie Musacchio’s The Art and Life of Francesca Alexander, a richly illustrated and beautifully produced monograph published by Lund Humphries, illuminates an intersection of Ruskin’s private life and artistic interests previously known to very few. Chapter 4 describes in detail Ruskin’s 1882 encounter in Florence with the American writer and artist Francesca Alexander and his subsequent publication and promotion of her extraordinary literary drawings – hard to describe in any other way – as Roadside Songs of Tuscany. This has hitherto been one of his least examined publications, Musacchio’s book now providing full and fascinating context.
Ruskin After 200: Thinking with Ruskin in the Twenty-First Century (Palgrave Macmillan) is a fine example of collected academic conference papers – a dwindling genre now in printed form, as opposed to online publication, but still possible within the lists of major publishers such as Palgrave (part of the Springer group). Jointly edited by Sarah L., Maurer, Judith Stoddart, Deanna K. Kreisel and Amy Woodson-Boulton, its four parts cover ‘Ruskin’s Projects’(including papers on Brantwood and Whitechapel by Howard Hull and Lucy Hartley); ‘Ruskin’s Reach’; ‘Ruskin and the Art of Technology’ and ‘Ruskin, Prophet of the Anthropocene’, with a nicely conceived piece by Sharon Weltman on ‘Thinking Ecologically with Ruskin and Dickens’. It is also notable in containing one of Clive Wilmer’s last pieces of writing, on ‘Ruskin’s Guild of St. George, Yesterday and To-Day’.
Stephen Wildman
Ruskin To-Day congratulates William McKeown on his success. When told he had won, replied: “Thank you for the news – this is a great honor, and I am so thankful to the Ruskin Society. This award is the closest thing to an Oscar that I could ever hope for!”
“All Great Art is Praise”
A celebration in words and music of the 200th Birthday of John Ruskin, 1819-1900
Readers:
Michael Palin and Dan Draper
Tenor:
Richard Edgar-Wilson
Coull Quartet:
Roger Coull (violin)
Philip Gallaway (violin)
Jonathan Barritt (viola)
Nicholas Roberts (cello)
Composer, and realiser of Ruskin’s words:
Sarah Rodgers
Visuals devised by Gavin Mackinnon-Little
Performance devised and directed by Robert Hewison
The evening at the Royal Academy was recorded on 8 February 2019
It is introduced by Rebecca Salter, now President of the Royal Academy
A recording of Sarah Rodgers’ “The King of the Golden River”, with Richard Edgar-Wilson and the Coull Quartet, is available at Sarah Rodgers, “Music for Tenor and String Quartet” SOMMCD 222
