Ruskin spent a great deal of time in Bradford, right next door to Leeds. His thinking had a key effect on the philosophy of men like Titus Salt and the other movers and shakers of this industrial boom town.
On the opening of Bradford's Wool Exchange, Ruskin was invited to give a speech. As the leading art and architecture critic of the age Ruskin was expected to give a speech on the beauty and opulence of the new building, to flatter the good taste of the captains of industry. Ruskin, however, had other ideas, and gave them a severe dressing down. He commented on the lack of care taken of the poor and the damage to the environment their booming industries were having.
In 1850, The Bankers Circular called Bradford “the most prosperous place on the face of the earth” but in that same year Engels (who spent some time in Bradford) called it a “filthy hole” and Bradford Beck, the “Stinking Stream”.
Bradford was an educated city with highly cosmopolitan leaders. The common form of greeting at the time was “Think On”. TheLeedsArcadesProject likes the idea of people greeting each other with such a phrase. It has such a sinister, threatening edge, as if someone is going to do something terrible to your family if you don't behave.....hmmmm...
Ruskin's lecture became the essay Traffic in which he condemns Bradfordians as been in the thrall of “the Goddess of Getting-on”. He also presents a keen Satire on Saltaire and other similar model villages, designed to keep the “better” class of work people in their place. He contrasts Saltaire with his own housing scheme designed to raise the submerged class –the proletariat of the proletariat – by firm State action.
On the opening of Bradford's Wool Exchange, Ruskin was invited to give a speech. As the leading art and architecture critic of the age Ruskin was expected to give a speech on the beauty and opulence of the new building, to flatter the good taste of the captains of industry. Ruskin, however, had other ideas, and gave them a severe dressing down. He commented on the lack of care taken of the poor and the damage to the environment their booming industries were having.
In 1850, The Bankers Circular called Bradford “the most prosperous place on the face of the earth” but in that same year Engels (who spent some time in Bradford) called it a “filthy hole” and Bradford Beck, the “Stinking Stream”.
Bradford was an educated city with highly cosmopolitan leaders. The common form of greeting at the time was “Think On”. TheLeedsArcadesProject likes the idea of people greeting each other with such a phrase. It has such a sinister, threatening edge, as if someone is going to do something terrible to your family if you don't behave.....hmmmm...
Ruskin's lecture became the essay Traffic in which he condemns Bradfordians as been in the thrall of “the Goddess of Getting-on”. He also presents a keen Satire on Saltaire and other similar model villages, designed to keep the “better” class of work people in their place. He contrasts Saltaire with his own housing scheme designed to raise the submerged class –the proletariat of the proletariat – by firm State action.
