Dating from 1871, when John Ruskin first opened his School of Drawing, the Ruskin School of Art has enjoyed a variety of guises, and an ever-growing reputation. As Oxford’s first Slade Professor, Ruskin intended to develop a course for the University leading to a degree in art. Armed with a teaching collection of more than 800 watercolours and drawings and more than 400 prints, including works by Dürer, Tintoretto and Turner, the school was originally housed in the University Galleries. The school continued its work in what became the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, moving to its current High Street site in 1975, where it was called the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art. Degrees in Fine Art (BFA) were first awarded by the University of Oxford in 1981.

In October 2015, the Ruskin opened a second Fine Art building - to augment its High Street premises - in Bullingdon Road, East Oxford. Designed by Spratley Studios Architects, the building houses purpose-built, state-of-the-art facilities and studios, and won an RIBA South Award 2016.