Modern Painters (Complete 5 Volumes)
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Summary
Upon publication, the first volume of Modern Painters achieved great success. It opened an extraordinarily broad field, and the outlines of Ruskin's future activity were largely determined by it. It was not until seventeen years later that Modern Painters was published in full. During this period, Ruskin's annual journeys through Europe—from France to Switzerland and on to Italy—not only supplied material for Modern Painters but also opened new horizons. He was indignant at the ignorance and apathy toward art throughout England, and felt he had a mission to dispel that ignorance and overcome that apathy; from this Modern Painters was born.
Modern Painters began merely as a defense of contemporary landscape painters, especially Turner, yet ultimately became a treatise on landscape painting. The first volume is chiefly concerned with the question of truth. Turner had been accused of showing contempt for nature, but in Ruskin's view he was the man who, in history, had "described the whole system of nature" comprehensively.
In the second volume, the author swiftly constructs a logical framework of ideas. Beauty is known through "theoretic" faculties, such as the faculty of contemplation (as opposed to the aesthetic faculty, which is based on sensation and is base). Beauty is constituted through natural forms, by the various manifestations of God's attributes. Nevertheless, Ruskin wishes to discuss the function of all art.
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers with a strong interest in nineteenth-century Western art history, especially British landscape painting and Turner
- Thinkers who wish to go beyond surface appreciation and understand the philosophy of art criticism and aesthetic theory in depth
- Professionals and students engaged in research or creation in fine art, literature, architecture, or design
- Readers who love classic humanistic works combining eloquent prose, deep insight, and moral passion
Not a good fit for
- Readers seeking only quick browsing of painting images or light popular art books
- Readers lacking patience for and interest in long, theoretical, discursive classic texts
Reading tips
- Reading in volume order is recommended; pairing the text with albums of works by Turner and other painters mentioned will deepen understanding
- Note how Ruskin combines geological and botanical knowledge with aesthetic analysis, and appreciate the multidimensional meaning of his "view of truth"
- Read alongside Ruskin's later works such as The Seven Lamps of Architecture and The Stones of Venice to grasp the full picture of his thought
About the publisher
Public information on Tsinghua University Press is limited, and only one of its books is currently held in the database. Based on the available catalogue, the press has an art publishing direction, represented by the five-volume Modern Painters. Its author resources include John Ruskin, as well as Chinese translators such as Zhang Lin, Zhang Jie, and Zhang Mingquan who worked on the book. Centered on modern painting, this set reflects the press's characteristic approach to art literature and classic translation: presenting foreign works on art history and painting studies in multi-volume form and relying on a translator team to produce the Chinese edition. Because only one title is held, it is difficult to judge the full scope of the press's publishing program; the above introduction is based solely on the available book information and does not cover unconfirmed matters such as founding background or scale.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 第一卷 一般原则
- 关于作者本书及本书
- 第一版序
- 第二版序
- 第一部分 一般原则
- 第一章 通过艺术传达的概念之本质
- 第二章 论力量
- 第二部分 真理
- 第一章 关于真理概念的一般原则
- 第二章 一般真理
- 第三章 天空真理
- 第四章 大地真理
- 第五章 水的真理
- 第六章 植物真理——结论
- 附录 中英文对照表
- 第二卷 想象力与理论抽象能力
- 第二卷初版广告
- 1883年版序
- 本卷1883版第二部分 卷首语
- 第三部分 论美的概念
- 第一章 理论抽象能力
- 第二章 想象力
- 附录（1848年）
- 结语（1883年）
- 第三卷
- 前言
- 第三卷插图清单
- 第四部分 诸多事宜
- 第一章 有关“伟大的风格”的公众意见
- 第二章 实现手段
- 第三章 伟大风格的本质
- 第四章 错误的理想——首先、宗教理想
- 第五章 错误的理想——其次、世俗理想
- 第六章 正确的理想——首相、纯粹派理想
- 第七章 正确的理想——其次、自然派理想
- 第八章 正确的理想——第三、怪诞派理想
- 第九章 终饰
- 第十章 图画的使用
- 第十一章 风景画的新颖性
- 第十二章 感情误置
- 第十三章 古典风景
- 第十四章 中世纪风景——第一部分：田野
- 第十五章 中世纪风景——第二部分：岩石
- 第十六章 现代风景
- 第十七章 风景的寓意
- 第十八章 特纳的老师
- 附录
- 第四卷 山之美
- 第一版序
- 第四卷插图清单
- 第五部分 山之美
- 第一章 特纳绘画的生动性
- 第二章 特纳的地形学
- 第三章 特纳的光线
- 第四章 特纳的神秘性：——首先，作为本质的
- 第五章 特纳的神秘性：——第二，有意识的
- 第六章 天空
- 第七章 旱 地
- 第八章 山脉的材料：——第一，紧凑的结晶体
- 第九章 山脉的材料： ——第二，板岩结晶体
- 第十章 山脉的材料：——第三，板岩黏合体
- 第十一章 山脉的材料：第四，紧凑的黏合体
- 第十二章 山脉的刻蚀：——第一，周边山脉
- 第十三章 山脉的刻蚀：——第二，中央山峰
- 第十四章 结果形态：——第一，尖峰
- 第十五章 结果形态：——第二，波峰
- 第十六章 结果形态：——第三，悬崖
- 第十七章 结果形态：——第四，山岸
- 第十八章 结果形态：第五，石头
- 第十九章 山脉的忧郁
- 第二十章 山脉的荣光
- 附录
- 第五卷 树叶之美、云之美及其它
- 前言
- 第五卷插图清单
- 第六部分 树叶之美
- 第一章 大地的面纱
- 第二章 叶序
- 第三章 叶芽
- 第四章 叶子
- 第五章 叶貌
- 第六章 树枝
- 第七章 树干
- 第八章 树叶纪念碑
- 第九章 树叶的阴影
- 第十章 静止不动的叶子
- 第七部分 云之美
- 第一章 云彩的飘浮
- 第二章 云群
- 第三章 云之战车
- 第四章 海洋天使
- 第八部分 论关系之理念——首先，论形式创新
- 第一章 帮助之规律
- 第二章 最少的任务
- 第三章 最伟大的规则
- 第四章 完美的规律
- 第九部分 论关系理念：——第二，论精神创新
- 第一章 黑镜子
- 第二章 帕拉斯之矛
- 第三章 狮子的翅膀
- 第四章 丢勒和萨尔维特
- 第五章 克劳德和普桑
- 第六章 鲁本斯和克伊普
- 第七章 论庸俗
- 第八章 沃夫曼斯和安吉利科
- 第九章 两个人的少年时代
- 第十章 涅瑞伊得斯的哨兵
- 第十一章 守护金苹果树的埃格勒
- 第十二章 和平
- 后记（1888）
- 译后记
- 《近代画家》署名方式及中英文对照总表
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About the author
John Ruskin (1819–1900) was an English writer, art critic and social thinker of the Victorian era, and is regarded as one of the most influential art critics of nineteenth-century Britain. He held that art should be faithful to nature, observing and rendering natural forms with care, and he stressed the inner connection between art, nature and society, believing that artistic taste and social conditions were inseparable. His major works include the five-volume Modern Painters, as well as The Seven Lamps of Architecture and The Stones of Venice. His writing combines vivid description with forceful argument, and has had a lasting influence on art education, the Arts and Crafts movement and social thought. The collection currently holds one of his works, Modern Painters (5 volumes), classified under Art.
Public information about Zhang Lin is limited, and the available details are not enough to give a full picture of his life. Judging from the works held in the library, his interests in writing and editing span several fields: an art-history and painting-appreciation work such as Modern Painters (5 volumes), retellings and compilations of classic literature such as Shakespeare's Classic Stories, foreign literary works such as Ragged Dick, and inspirational personal-growth books such as Investing in Yourself: The Capital to Forge a Lifetime and Become Your Best Self. His works are commonly found in categories including art, classics, foreign literature, and inspirational growth, reflecting an approach that balances knowledge popularization with readability and suits readers who wish to encounter art and classics in an accessible way.
Zhang Jie is an author with a notably broad range, though public information about him is limited: his nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background are not clearly recorded, and the library holds 26 of his works. His subjects span art, literature, programming and medicine. They include the five-volume translation Modern Painters, the scholarly survey A History of Twentieth-Century Russian and Soviet Literary Criticism, and compiled or translated classics such as Shakespeare's Classic Stories and Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood. In technical writing he has produced professional guides to data visualization with R, while his medical titles touch on JCI hospital management and the collected clinical experience of Wang Lingxiao. Overall, Zhang Jie comes across as a compiler and writer who moves between the humanities and practical fields, addressing both general readers and specialists with an emphasis on accessible knowledge and readable texts rather than elaborate rhetoric.
Zhang Mingquan: public information about this author is limited. At present it is known only that two of his works are on record: the five-volume Modern Painters and The Realization of Life. Judging from these titles, his writing spans two fields, art and philosophy. The former deals with the lives and creative work of modern painters and belongs to art history and painting appreciation; the latter leans toward reflections on the philosophy of life and can be classed as philosophical reading. The two subjects differ markedly, yet both show a sustained attention to humanistic questions. The available materials do not confirm his nationality, dates of birth and death, educational background, or specific experiences, so no further speculation about his life is appropriate. Readers wishing to understand his writing orientation may begin with these two works: one traces the development of modern painting through its painters, while the other responds to questions of life in a reflective manner.
