The Department of Art and Art History in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta in collaboration with HOASA (History of Art and Fine Arts Students Association) is commemorating the two hundred anniversary since the birth of the great art critic and artist John Ruskin (1819-1900) through a public lecture entitled 'John Ruskin: Travels, Nature and Art' by Dr Mark Sagona, which will be held in the Arts Lecture Theatre (P.P. Saydon Lecture Hall) at the Msida Campus of the University of Malta, on Wednesday 4 December at 17:30. Refreshments will follow.
Ruskin was the most significant art critic of the Victorian era and a polymath with wide-ranging interests in education, geology, science, politics, history, mythology and nature. His writings left a decisive impact on the theory of art, architecture, design and the decorative arts, especially on the design reform movements of the second half of the nineteenth century. Besides his written works such as Modern Painters, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, and The Stones of Venice, he was an extraordinarily-gifted draughtsman and watercolourist with an astonishing eye for detail. In fact, most of his written works result from his remarkable observation which can be witnessed in his paintings. This lecture will celebrate and discuss the extraordinary artistic talent which emanates from the copious output of drawings and watercolours produced through his many travels across Europe.
Dr Mark Sagona, Ph.D. is Resident Academic in Decorative Arts in the Department of Art and Art History, Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta. He lectures on painting, sculpture, architecture and the decorative arts between the late 18th and early 20th century, together with painting and drawing in the Fine Arts stream. His research interests include design, ornamental drawings and the decorative arts together with painting, sculpture and architecture from the Neoclassical to the Modern. Sagona has lectured, published and exhibited extensively both as an academic and a practising visual artist.