Monday, February 13, 2012

Tolstoy on What is Art

According to Tolstoy, art must create a specific emotional link between artist and audience, one that "affects" the viewer. Thus, real art requires the capacity to unite people via communication (clearness and genuineness are therefore crucial values). This aesthetic conception led Tolstoy to widen the criteria of what exactly a work of art is. He believed that the concept of art embraces any human activity in which one emitter, by means of external signs, transmits previously experienced feelings. Tolstoy offers an example of this: a boy that has experienced fear after an encounter with a wolf later relates that experience, infecting the hearers and compelling them to feel the same fear that he had experienced—that is a perfect example of a work of art. As communication, this is good art, because it is clear, it is sincere, and it is singular (focused on one emotion). (wikipedia)



Last night I watched the Grammys. I was spellbound by the artistry of Jennifer Hudson.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Jane..
Not beem to say hi for a while. Live just gets busier. I feel like I've had a wonderful holiday reading and looking. Great to see you again. helen Booth