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A review by rick2
What Is Art? by Leo Tolstoy
4.0
An interesting and well done work. The idea of art as the communication of emotion from a source to an audience is potent. He focuses on writing, poetry, painting, music, and theatre but I believe that his ideas can apply to a broader suite of creative acts; cooking, dance, even athletics to a degree. Any sufficiently deep activity or creation as to allow emotional expression.
Unfortunately it seems like Tolstoy misses the simple fact that accessibility for the art he talks about was unavailable for most of the population up until recent history. Literacy and access to reading material often being withheld from the masses. Churches represented the largest exposure to art in the European world for a long time. He at one point idolizes the simplicity of “peasant” songs and stories, but in doing so, clearly shows the rift in his worldview.
Unfortunately it seems like Tolstoy misses the simple fact that accessibility for the art he talks about was unavailable for most of the population up until recent history. Literacy and access to reading material often being withheld from the masses. Churches represented the largest exposure to art in the European world for a long time. He at one point idolizes the simplicity of “peasant” songs and stories, but in doing so, clearly shows the rift in his worldview.