Fogg Dips Into Ruskinian Watercolor Era

As you step into “The Last Ruskinians: Charles Eliot Norton, Charles Herbert Moore, and Their Circle,” you immediately feel at home. The deep burgundy walls accented with gold-framed watercolors create a warm, inviting environment that seduces you to stay for hours, and by the middle of the show, you are truly convinced that you are not standing in a museum, but looking at Norton’s private collection in the study of his Cambridge home.

Organized by Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., curator of American art, and Virginia Anderson, assistant curator of American art, “The Last Ruskinians” will be on view at the Fogg Art Museum until July 8.

John Ruskin was a 19th-century British watercolorist who took what he called a “truth to nature” approach, producing realistic, vibrantly colored, and detailed images. He found a strong following among a group of Americans, who keenly imitated his no-frills style.

The show displays a selection of Ruskin’s own drawings and watercolors, the works of two British artists he admired—Joseph Mallard William Turner and William Henry Hunt—and those by Americans whom he influenced, including Charles Herbert Moore, Henry Roderick Newman, and Joseph Lindon Smith.

Opening with a group of rocky landscapes, the exhibit is organized thematically from architectural studies to fruit and flower still lifes. Ruskin’s work lies alongside those of his followers. Ruskin’s influence is apparent in the clear tones and precision of these works, but one can also perceive the artists’ own variations from Ruskin’s style.

The centerpiece, and perhaps the best work, of the show is Moore’s “Peacock Feather” (c. 1879-82), which hangs side-by-side with Ruskin’s “Study of a Magnified Pheasant’s Feather” (August 27, 1879). Moore was perhaps the most ardent of Ruskin’s followers, and his works display levels of patience and technique that rival Ruskin’s own. In this direct juxtaposition of the two artists, teacher and student, it can be said that Moore “out-Ruskins” Ruskin himself.

The fineness of the lines attests to the amount of skill and control of the brush Moore possessed, and the way in which he seamlessly blends the rich hues of emerald green to aquamarine blue is breathtaking. Each fiber is palpable in its smooth, glossy sturdiness, but we can also feel the soft tufts of gray and white along the feather’s bottom, aware that if we were to give the gentlest blow, they would stir. The soft shading and the way in which the light illuminates certain portions of the feather add to its real-as-life three-dimensionality.

The magnifying glasses provided upon one’s entrance to the exhibit come in handy and, at the very least, add an element of fun to the show.

Ruskin’s “Coral Oysters” (1868) has a tiny inscription along the image that adds an element of playfulness: “Little Coral Oysters. Magnified. J Ruskin. Aged Forty-nine. Waste Paper.” His “Study of a Magnified Pheasant’s Feather” is signed and dated in print that is so miniscule that it looks like a solid line to the naked eye.

Yet one does not get lost in the details, and it’s easy to grasp the overarching themes running throughout the exhibition. The centrality of these works to Boston, and especially Harvard, gives the collection particular relevance. Norton was Harvard’s first professor of fine arts, and Moore was Harvard’s first professor of studio art, as well as the first director of the Fogg.

It is interesting to see the devotion of this group of artists to the comparatively conservative Ruskinian tradition, made all the more fascinating in light of the rise of such bold movements as impressionism and modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

By the end of the exhibit, we can understand why one man had such a great impact and lasting legacy on a group of artists. Nevertheless, Moore comes out from under Ruskin’s shadow as the star of the show. His determination to represent the world realistically and the equal sensibility with which he treats a vast landscape and a tiny flower shoot make him the ultimate Ruskinian. Aside from “Peacock Feather,” his small landscapes—“Venetian Doorway” (1877), “San Barnaba, Venice” (c. 1876-77), and “Winter Landscape, Valley of the Catskill” (1866)—are not to be missed.

Each painting alone can be examined for hours, and with approximately 60 works, “The Last Ruskinians” is an exhibition that is truly worth a whole afternoon.