['The roadway before the digging begun', 'The roadway now'] before 1912

These photographs, "The roadway before the digging begun" and "The roadway now," were made by Henry W. Taunt, though the exact date is unknown, they document Ruskin’s pupils’ and followers’ efforts to beautify village roads. The composition of the before image is interesting: it has a very compressed depth of field with a slightly raised perspective. This gives the impression of looking at a scene that is somehow not quite real. By contrast, the after picture is a much more relaxed, conventionally composed scene, which welcomes the viewer. I think that in both images the use of black and white as a medium removes any distraction in the images and makes the eye focus on the tonal contrast of the pieces. There’s an obvious reference here to Ruskin’s utopianism, in which art and labour are brought into a closer relationship, and a perhaps less obvious commentary on the futility of such endeavors, when the road soon reverted to its original state. I’m thinking of Courbet, who shared Ruskin's interest in Realism, but would perhaps have been more attuned to the ultimate social reality.