Art and Art Education from Ruskin's Perspektive

The industrialization that began in England in the second half of the 18th century led to changes in the forms of production. Although industrialization had positive effects on production, such as increased capacity, after the 1840s it began to have negative effects on production quality, social and working conditions. The loss of the artistic attitude stemming from handicrafts in production was one of these negative effects. The aim ofthis study is to investigate the views on art and art education ofJohn Ruskin, a poet, writer, art and social critic, who was one of the critics of industrialization in England, which proved to be the industrial leader of Europe with the Great Exhibition, such as the loss of spiritual values and damage to the social fabric. According to Ruskin, being deprived of artistic talent and feeling of art is not the result of any defect in national character, but of being deprived of 'spiritual inspiration'. For this reason, art, morality and religion are intertwined in Ruskin's works. He also emphasizes that Ruskin sees art as an imitation of nature, thatthis imitation should be touched with pleasure, that imitation and pleasure are necessary but insufficient, and thatthere must be a moral purpose forthe creation of great art. Besides all these mentioned above, he believes that art education should be interdisciplinary. And according to him, art education has two aspects: perception and invention. Perception helps to perceive the beauty of God's works and can be taught. The power of invention, unlike perception, is a God-given gift and cannot be taught. Ruskin is concerned that having students make copies of works that are admired and sold out of commercial concern may destroy the creative and original attitudes of students. Especially vision education, imperfection, interdisciplinarity, invention are important components of education in general and art education in particulartoday. Ruskin's thoughts on art and art education shaped 20th century art and art education.