GEARTAP

WHAT IS ART? BY LEO TOLSTOY - If art is the transmission of feelings from man’s
religious perception, it can’t be incomprehensible
- Beauty, or that which pleases us, cannot serve as the
because everyone’s relationship with God is one and
basis for the definition of art
the same
- People will understand art only when they stop
- In order to speak about the art of society, one must
considering that it’s meant to be beautiful
distinguish art from counterfeit art
- In order correctly to define art, it is necessary to
- Infectiousness: however poetical, realistic, effectful
cease to consider it as a means to pleasure and to
or interesting a work may be, if it does not evoke joy
consider it as one of the conditions of human life
and spiritual union with the author and with others,
it is not art
Art as intercourse - The receiver of true artistic impression is so united to
the artist that he feels as if the work were his own,
- Art creates a relationship between the receiver and
expressing just what he had long been wishing to
producer, and between the receiver and those with
express
the same artistic impression
- A real work of art destroys the separation between
- By words, a man transmits his thoughts and by art,
himself and the artist
his feelings
- The degree of infectiousness is the sole measure of
- The activity of art is based on the fact that a man is
excellence in art
capable of experiencing the emotion of the man who
o On the greater or lesser individuality of the
expressed it
feeling transmitted
o State of mind passes on to others
o On the greater or lesser clearness with
o Vicarious / second-hand experience
which the feeling is transmitted
o On the sincerity of the artist
Art as infection o The absence of any = counterfeit art
- Art is a human activity where one man consciously - Art must not transmit feelings accessible only to a
hands on to other feelings he has lived through and man educated in a certain way; must not be
other people are infected by them and experience exclusive
them - Art that transmits feelings accessible to everyone is
- Art will be understood when everybody is as well considered good art
educated as the creator (aka rich people), but the - The religious perception of our time is that the aim
majority (lower classes) do not; art then seems of life is the union of mankind; when this is
exclusive to the rich consciously acknowledged, the division of art for the
- That which is enjoyment to a man of the rich classes lower and upper classes will disappear
is incomprehensible as a pleasure to a workingman, - A real work of art can only arise in the soul of an
and evokes in him either no feeling at all or only a artist occasionally as the fruit of the life he has lived
feeling quite contrary to that which it evokes in an - Counterfeit art is produced continually, if only
idle and satiated man consumers can be found
o Rich people see things differently from a - The cause of real art is love, the cause of counterfeit
art is gain
working class person
- The consequence of true art is the introduction of a
- The art of the upper classes can never be the art of
new feeling, the consequences of counterfeit art are
the whole people, but art should be accessible to
the perversion of man and weakening of spiritual
everyone
strength
- Great works of art are only great because they are
accessible and comprehensible to everyone
o Translations; the story of Joseph translated
to Chinese will touch a Chinese person ART APPRECIATION: AN INTRODUCTION
- If art fails to move men, it’s not due to the - “Pleasure of the mind.” Auguste Rodin
spectators or lack of understanding, but that the art o “Art is contemplation. It is the pleasure of
is either bad or not art at all
the mind which search into the nature and
- Art is differentiated from activity of the
which there divines the spirit by which
understanding
nature herself is animated. It is the joy of
 the intellect which sees clearly into the
universe and which recreates it with
conscientious vision. Art is the most sublime
mission of man, since it is the expression of
thought seeking to understand the world to
make it understood.”
o “Art shows man his raison d’etre. It reveals
to him the meaning of life, it enlightens him
upon his destiny, and consequently points
him on his way.”
- “Reading the image” Alice G. Guillermo
o “Understanding art has to do with ‘reading’
the visual work as a representation of the
world, and artistic construct and signifying
practice conveying a complex of ideas,
feelings, values, attitudes, moods, and
atmospheres that derive from world views
and ideologies.”