In this exquisite book, 'Suzanne Fagence Cooper gives a masterclass in how to write well about a subject who was as expansive as she is concise and as florid as she is focused, while sensitively — even poetically — summarising the many insights imparted by her subject.
Her focus is on John Ruskin’s belief that sight is fundamental to all insight, whether poetry, prophecy, or religion. So, this is a book about a purveyor of words who encourages in those who listen or read the discipline of attentive looking.'
Her focus is on John Ruskin’s belief that sight is fundamental to all insight, whether poetry, prophecy, or religion. So, this is a book about a purveyor of words who encourages in those who listen or read the discipline of attentive looking.'
Earlier this year I reviewed, also for Church Times, “John Ruskin: The Power of Seeing” at Two Temple Place:
'Ruskin was a man of many words, who believed that, through drawing, one had the power to say what could not otherwise be said. He built his reputation on the power of his words as an art critic, author, and lecturer, but his subject was the power of seeing, because, for him, the teaching of art was “the teaching of all things”. He believed that the “greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way”. “To see clearly”, he said, “is poetry, prophecy, and religion — all in one.”
Art, then, is an expression of “the love and the will of God” to which we gain access primarily by looking closely at the splendour of nature.'
Click here to also read the earlier review.
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Antonio Vivaldi - Gloria.
