视觉的意义:也谈罗斯金的写实主义

The Significance of Sight in Ruskin’s Realism

在维多利亚文学研究中,罗斯金的写实主义常常被提起,却少有深入的研究,而且已有的研究也大多局限在文学写实主义的范围之内。本文以18到19世纪英国美术批评为参照,通过梳理《近代画家》和《威尼斯之石》的相关论述,指出罗斯金写实主义的核心不在于对模仿的批判,而在于对视觉的强调。在这一点上,罗斯金不仅挑战了18世纪以来的美术批评传统,还将美术观念与伦理思考有机地结合了起来。"完整的生灵"成为忠实记录视觉的终极意义,这个主张贯穿了他的美术与社会批评,彰显了深刻的人文关怀。

Discussion of Victorian literature makes constant reference to Ruskin’s realism, yet study of his ideas in this respect is surprisingly lacking, while the scholarship which does explore this issue is concerned almost primarily with literary realism. The present study proposes to reexamine Ruskin’s realism in Modern Painters and The Stones of Venice against the context of British art criticism in the 18^(th)and the 19^(th)century. It argues that the defining feature of Ruskin’s realism is not his critique of imitation but his attention to the faculty of sight. This not only signifies Ruskin’s departure from neoclassical art criticism of the 18^(th)century but also constitutes an integral part of his ethical theory of the wholeness of humanity.