What Is Art By Leo Tolstoy Flashcards
What is beauty to Baumgarten?
Beauty is the perfect (the absolute) recognized through the senses
Who is the founder of aesthetics?
Baumgartem
What is the highest aim of art, according to Baumgarten?
To copy nature
What is kants conception of beauty?
Subjective:That which without practical advantage and reasoning pleases . Objective: the form of an object suitable forints purpose in so far as that object is perceived without any conception of its utility
According to Fichte what is art?
The manifestation of a beautiful soul
According to Schelling what is art?
The production or result of that conception of things by which the subject becomes it’s own object or the object it’s own subject
According to Hegel what is beauty?
Beaty is the shining of the idea through matter
What are two major definitions of beauty?
- Beauty is something having an independent existence (manifestations of “god”)
- A kind of pleasure received by us not having personal advantage for its object
Why does Tolstoy think these two definitions amount to the same thing?
Both are that which pleases us without evoking desire
Why is Tolstoy dissatisfied with both definitions?
Believes there is no objective definition
Why does Tolstoy believe that all the foregoing theories of art are all inadequate?
Each definition is subjective and define only some traits if artistic productions
Why are all of the common definitions of art inaccurate? How can the definition be made accurate?
In all of them the object considered is the pleasure art may give, and not the purpose if may serve in the life of man. For accuracy, we must cease to consider it as a means of pleasure ad start seeing it as one of the conditions of human life.
According to Tolstoy what is art?
To evoke in oneself a feeling one has experienced by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds, or forms expressed in words so to transmit that feeling that others experience the same thing.
On what does our estimation of the value of art depend?
Depends on men’s perception of the meaning of life, depends on what they hold to be the good and the evil of life
After the crusades, what change in mental outlook occurred among the upper circles of European society?
They stopped continuing to believe the church teaching of Christ
The upper classes of the Christian nations lost faith in church Christianity. What has been the result of this in the world of art?
Art became false (pg. 17 par. 3)
According to Tolstoy what is the religious perception of our own time?
The consciousness that our well being, both material and spiritual, individual and collective, temporal and eternal, lies in the growth of brotherhood among men-in their living harmony with one another.
What 3 factors determine the greatness of work of art
On the greater or lesser individuality of the feeling transmitted, clearness with which the feeling is transmitted, and the sincerity of the artist.
What is a major characteristic that distinguishes true art?
The infectiousness of art
What three feelings form almost the whole subject matter of the art of the rich classes?
The feeling of pride, sexual desire, feeling of weariness of life
What does Tolstoy conclude from the fact that much of modern art is incomprehensible to the ordinary person?
It only proves their insufficient development
What historical factors led to today’s popular view that art is based on pleasure and beauty?
The slavery of the working class whose bondage enables a tiny minority to produce works to amuse the rich
