Hum 2 INTRODUCTION TO HUMANITIES 2

ART MAN AND SOCIETY

Lecture 1 – OVERVIEW ON HUMANITIES

1. Meaning of Humanities

1.1. Humanus – Humanitas – Human, Humanity – it refers to the quality of being

a human; huma, civilized, cultured)
1.2. Branch of Learning – it refers to the study of the arts. As a study, its material
object is “artwork” and its formal object is “creativity and appreciation.”

Every creation around you which is made by human beings represents someone's
humanity. The chair you're sitting in, the clothes you're wearing, the building you're in, or
your home, even the time of day which people created, all are representative of
someone's humanity -- their human-ness. In other words, everything that human beings
have created can be classified as part of the humanities.

2. Misconceptions on the term Humanities:

It should not be confused with the terms:

2.1. Humanism – specific philosophical belief
2.2. Humanitarianism – concern for charitable works.

3. Humanities: Art and Science

3.1. Art: Skills (Greek techne or technical)

3.2. Science: Involves a process.
3.3. Social Science: Man as the focus. Art is the subject matter, but art is
created by man for man.

4. Humanities vs. Philosophy

Comparison:
Humanities: Man is the source and fountain of all creativity. (Creating Subject)
Philosophy: Man is the starting point of knowledge. (Inquiring Subject)

Contrast:
Humanities: Explicit understanding of artworks – extensions of his being (man).
Philosophy: Implicit understanding of himself as composed of body and soul.

5. Why Study Humanities?

1. Through Humanities, we can be connected to places we have not visited,
understand the past or history which has significance to the present. It makes
us encounter great minds and hearts of human history.
2. Through Humanities, we will be studying what humans have found valuable or
good throughout the time.
3. Through Humanities, we experience connection between culture and
community through different art exposures – museum visits, concerts, theater
performance, and support of local artists.
4. Through Humanities, we increase our respect for cultural and individual
differences through a knowledge of achievements and of world civilization.

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 5. Through Humanities, we gain a global perspective through the knowledge of
world cultures.
6. Through Humanities, we will be able to build up your career, focus our life,
minimize frustration, and most importantly, be able to work as part of an effective
team.

Lecture 2 – OVERVIEW ON THE ARTS

1. Art: Concept or Fact?

Art is either a concept or a fact. As a concept, it is subject to be understood and be

grasped by any perceiver. Furthermore, it cannot be defined because it springs from the
ideas and emotions of man concretized by means of any sensuous material.

But, art as a fact is observable; is that which is known through the senses. It refers then
to any creative work of an artist that can easily be described upon noticing the different
mediums being used and the context in which it is produced.

2. Art and Experience

All art demands experience. There can be no appreciation of art without experience. An
experience is something that affects your life.

Persons Affected by Art Experience:

1. The person of the artist.

2. The person of the percipient.

Characteristics of Experience:

1. It must be personal and individual. It must not exactly be the same as that of any
other person.
2. Experience is accompanied by emotion or emotional reaction. You like it or you
do not like it.

3. Artist vs. Craftsman

The word art originally meant skill, ability, or craft (corresponding to the Greek techne
from which we derive the words like technical and technique). In the ancient world, a
"work of art" was simply any object that required skill or craft in its production. Only
gradually, beginning about the middle of the 17th century, did work of art mean a work of
fine or high art.

The artisan or the craftsman is not expected to be original and he is good at his job to the
extent that he can successfully follow the relevant rules. A work of a craft is good if it
matches the appropriate template and performs the desired function.

The artist must be creative and original. Good art cannot be produced by slavish-rule
following and imitation. Great artists are genius whose works transcend the rules and
conventions of their time.

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4. The Use of Natural Objects in Works of Art

There are some artists who would use the natural objects as they are without changing
them in levying or carrying their art work. Take for example, a landscape. Artists charged
with the task of landscaping would have to use the stones and other natural materials
without even deforming their shape, form and organization. This is the principle of non-
transformation.
Under the principle of Transformation, the artists have the necessarily alter the natural
objects in carrying their art work because by so doing the idea of the artist, the purpose
of the art, and the circumstances surrounding the art can properly be served.

5. General Classes of Artifacts

The three general classes of artifacts include the following:

1. Practically useful, but not disinterestedly pleasing (subjectively pleasing)
2. Both practically useful and disinterestedly pleasing (not subjectively pleasing); and
3. Not practically useful, but disinterestedly pleasing (not subjectively pleasing).

The works of art, most of the times, fall under the third class.

Disinterested – not determined by any personal or subjective interest. We take pleasure

in something because we judge it beautiful in itself, rather than judging it beautiful
because we find it pleasurable.

Example: I like this artwork because it reminds me of the safety and warmth of our
hometown. It is your own pleasure that serves as the criterion in judging the art as
beautiful. Artworks are beautiful in themselves no matter they could give us subjective
pleasure or not.

6. Natural objects vs. Artifacts

The following are the arguments that would separate each other from a single category:

1. Works of art can express ideas or feelings, but nature cannot.

2. Works of art---like sentences, but unlike natural objects--can mean something. This
point can perhaps be better put another way: works of art, like sentences, but unlike
natural objects, can embody communicative intentions. Take for example, reading a
poem. Through it, we are presumably entitled to ask, "What is trying to say?" We are
certainly not entitled to ask such a question after looking at a waterfall or a cloud.
3. Works of art can imitate nature (and can be applauded for doing so), but nature cannot
imitate nature.

7. Characteristics of Art Works

The various characteristics of an art work are as follows:

1. They are man-made;

2. They are universal;
3. They are united;
4. They are diversified;
5. They are expressive; 6. They are creative; and
7. They are beautiful.

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8. Resemblance theory in Art Work

This theory would mean that work of art may closely resemblance nature, but it can never
duplicate nature in as much as it is only man-made. The photographic art is somewhat
closest to this theory. The pictures or photographs you'll get are somewhat similar to the
original specimen but even then, they are only the records of the subject or a scene.

9. Art is Everywhere (Universal)

In every age or country, there is always art. Wherever we go, whether it is a city or a
province, here or abroad, we surely have to pass buildings of various sorts---houses,
schools, churches, stores, etc. Some of them appear attractive and inviting, some do not.
We look at some of them with awe and admiration.

We find art also in the clothes and the accessories we wear, in the design of our furniture
and furnishings; in the styles of the vehicles we use. We find art objects in the home and
in the community, in religion, in trade and in industries.

Art is universally present in all forms of human society and in every generation because
it serves some fundamental needs.

10. Common Among Art Works (Unity)

The one thing that is common to all the works of art is the tie that relates a painting to a
song, a play to a dance. The most basic relationship is that the arts are concerned with
emotions; with our feelings about things. When a person sees a picture he thinks is
beautiful or a play he thinks is exciting, he feels that is lovely or stirring. His reaction is
primarily emotional.

11. Diversity in Arts

The arts are remarkable in their diversity, not only in the subject matter but also in the
materials and in the forms. No rules can govern either in creation or in the appreciation.
The artist is influenced by the world around him, so that his work reflects the time and the
place in which he lives. If artists or critics do set up rules to follow, other artists and critics
will prove the rules false. Arts change as life changes. Authorities in arts state that the
work of an artist must be judged against the background of the time in which he lived.

12. Questions About Arts

1. Background:
a.) What is the work of art about? (Subject)
b.) What is it for? (Function)
2. What is it made of? (Medium)
3. How is it put together? (Elements and Organization)
4. What is its mood, temper, and personality? (Style)
5. Is it good? (Judgment)

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Lecture 3 – FOUNDATIONS OF THE ARTS (Man and Society) FUNCTIONS OF THE
ARTS

Man and Art

1. Art arises first of all from an artist, who refers to the man, the “maker” of the works of
art. It is therefore the nature of man that he/she is an artist. Quoting AK
Coomaraswamy, “The artist is not a special kind of person, but every man is a
special kind of artist.”

2. Art is an expression of man as creative. This can be elaborated from the concept of
man as a “person.” A person is derived from the Greek word “prosopon,” which
means “before an eye” (pros – toward or before, opos, genitive of eyes; optic).
That which is something “before an eye” is a “mask.” Normally, a mask is worn by
an actor in theatrical presentations. With this concept, we could say that man or
person is an actor. As an actor, he/she is the author of everything. He/She performs
and he/she creates anything he/she wants.

3. Art is a rational creation of man. As Gorgias puts it: “I cannot fairly give name “art” to
anything irrational.” Man is essentially a “rational animal,” according to the Greek
philosopher, Aristotle. This points to a dichotomy in human nature --- we are part
animal, but we are, at the same time, part spirit. We have all animal urges and
appetites. We seek food and drink, comfort and warmth, and the satisfaction of all the
other animal impulses. But we should seek to find a balance in our lives between
what is of the flesh and what is of the spirit. It is the very essence of man that they
are artists, are makers of things necessary to live a life in which the needs of the
bodily life are satisfied at one and the needs of the spiritual at the other. Art
satisfies our bodily desires, needs and pleasures, but man does not live on bread
alone (that which is material; changeable and transitory). This alone is not
enough. Man still hankers or looks for spiritual aspect of art --- that which is of
beauty, unity and order (those which are considered as absolute realities in Plato’s
philosophy; something unchangeable and permanent).

4. Man as an artist is reckoned in the evidence of history that there has never been a
time when men and women have not been artists. That this is no new development
in human nature is evidenced by the cave paintings of our very early ancestors,
who, working in the very intractable material of their cave walls produced lively
representations of the art.

5. Through art, man might be able to understand himself, express his own passions and
desires, communicate with others; appreciate and acknowledge the kindness of
others, and build a world or a society that is so pleasurable and enjoyable to live in.

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Functions of the Art

1. The personal functions of art (art and the individual) are the most difficult to explain
in any great detail. There are many of them, and they vary from person to person. We
will limit to the following:

1. Order – it gives order to a messy and disorderly personal world.

2. Chaotic – it gives chaos or disorder when the artist feels life is too boring, staid
and ordinary.
3. Therapeutic – for both the artist and the viewer. For example, the choice of music
for hospitals, mentally disturbed patients, massage parlors.
4. Religious and Spiritual
5. Biological – ways to adorn and decorate ourselves in order to be attractive enough
to others.
2. Art has social functions (art and society) when it addresses aspects of (collective)
life, as opposed to one person's point of view or experience. Art performs social
function when:

1. Influencing Social Behavior (Collective Behavior). Many works of art influence

the way we think, feel or act. It may cause us to laugh, arouse indignation, or as
a source in changing, correcting, improving the human condition or shaping the
society (social change).

2. Display and Celebration

- Sculpture and painting are commemoration of personages in society. The statues

of national heroes that grace our parks and plazas.

- Rituals have played an important role in people’s lives and have influenced the
growth of certain arts as well.

-Festivals – involve rituals of some kind, and these in turn, employ arts. Examples:
Sinulog in Cebu, Moriones Festival in Marinduque, Ati-atihan in Kalibon and
Diyandi in Iligan.

3. Social Description - Artwork reveal how people thought, felt, and lived in certain
historical period. For example, the painting that portrays the many people one in
planting or harvesting rice, describes the value of unity, camaraderie and
bayanihan spirit among Filipinos.

3. The physical functions of art are most easily dealt with. Works of art that are created
to perform some service have physical functions.

Form and Function – The function of an object generally determines the basic form that
it takes. A chair is so designed as to allow the seated body to rest comfortable on it. Its
different parts (back, arms, legs and seat) are harmoniously related to one another and
integrated into an object that fulfills its particular purpose.

In architecture, the design of a building is determined primarily by its operational function.

A place of worship requires a big hall for the congregation to gather in; a school should
serve a number of students. These considerations determine the height of the building,
the number of floors, the sizes and shapes of classrooms, the location of doors and
windows, the traffic patterns and the location of facilities.

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In community planning (more than a group of buildings), planning should be done to
avoid overcrowded areas which have brought about many social problems ranging from
health to criminality. It takes into consideration the assignment of areas (residential,
industrial, and commercial) for proper land use. This planning involves the efficient
organization of buildings, roads and spaces so that they meet the physical and aesthetic
needs of the community.

As marketing tool, advertising serves several functions. It identifies products and

differentiates it from others. It communicates information about the products, its features
and its location of sale. It also induces consumers to try new products and to suggest
reuse. Moreover, it stimulates the distribution of a product as well as increases product
use. Additionally, advertising builds value, brand preference, and loyalty. Finally, it lowers
the overall cost of sale. Every advertiser should learn all of these functions in order to
gain understanding or insight of the roles of advertising in the business or market.

What Is Art?" (excerpts)

by Leo Tolstoy

Editor's Note: This essay (originally published in 1896) and the translation
by Alymer Maude (first published in 1899) are in the public domain and
may be freely reproduced.

About the Author: Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), although best known for his
literary works, also wrote various essays on art, history, and religion.

The discussion questions, bibliographic references, and hyperlinks have

been added by Julie Van Camp. (Copyright Julie C. Van Camp 1997) They
too may be freely reproduced, so long as this complete citation is included
with any such reproductions.

Paragraph numbering below has been added to facilitate class discussion.

It was not included in the original text.

[DISCUSSION QUESTIONS]

CHAPTER FIVE (excerpts). . .

#1. In order correctly to define art, it is necessary, first of all, to cease to

consider it as a means to pleasure and to consider it as one of the
conditions of human life. Viewing it in this way we cannot fail to observe
that art is one of the means of intercourse between man and man.

#2. Every work of art causes the receiver to enter into a certain kind of
relationship both with him who produced, or is producing, the art, and with
all those who, simultaneously, previously, or subsequently, receive the
same artistic impression.

#3. Speech, transmitting the thoughts and experiences of men, serves as a

means of union among them, and art acts in a similar manner. The
peculiarity of this latter means of intercourse, distinguishing it from

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intercourse by means of words, consists in this, that whereas by words a
man transmits his thoughts to another, by means of art he transmits his
feelings.

#4. The activity of art is based on the fact that a man, receiving through his
sense of hearing or sight another man's expression of feeling, is capable of
experiencing the emotion which moved the man who expressed it. To take
the simplest example; one man laughs, and another who hears becomes
merry; or a man weeps, and another who hears feels sorrow. A man is
excited or irritated, and another man seeing him comes to a similar state of
mind. By his movements or by the sounds of his voice, a man expresses
courage and determination or sadness and calmness, and this state of
mind passes on to others. A man suffers, expressing his sufferings by
groans and spasms, and this suffering transmits itself to other people; a
man expresses his feeling of admiration, devotion, fear, respect, or love to
certain objects, persons, or phenomena, and others are infected by the
same feelings of admiration, devotion, fear, respect, or love to the same
objects, persons, and phenomena.

#5. And it is upon this capacity of man to receive another man's expression
of feeling and experience those feelings himself, that the activity of art is
based.

#6. If a man infects another or others directly, immediately, by his

appearance or by the sounds he gives vent to at the very time he
experiences the feeling; if he causes another man to yawn when he himself
cannot help yawning, or to laugh or cry when he himself is obliged to laugh
or cry, or to suffer when he himself is suffering - that does not amount to
art.

#7. Art begins when one person, with the object of joining another or others
to himself in one and the same feeling, expresses that feeling by certain
external indications. To take the simplest example: a boy, having
experienced, let us say, fear on encountering a wolf, relates that encounter;
and, in order to evoke in others the feeling he has experienced, describes
himself, his condition before the encounter, the surroundings, the woods,
his own lightheartedness, and then the wolf's appearance, its movements,
the distance between himself and the wolf, etc. All this, if only the boy,
when telling the story, again experiences the feelings he had lived through
and infects the hearers and compels them to feel what the narrator had
experienced is art. If even the boy had not seen a wolf but had frequently
been afraid of one, and if, wishing to evoke in others the fear he had felt, he
invented an encounter with a wolf and recounted it so as to make his
hearers share the feelings he experienced when he feared the world, that
also would be art. And just in the same way it is art if a man, having
experienced either the fear of suffering or the attraction of enjoyment
(whether in reality or in imagination) expresses these feelings on canvas or
in marble so that others are infected by them. And it is also art if a man

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feels or imagines to himself feelings of delight, gladness, sorrow, despair,
courage, or despondency and the transition from one to another of these
feelings, and expresses these feelings by sounds so that the hearers are
infected by them and experience them as they were experienced by the
composer.

#8. The feelings with which the artist infects others may be most various -
very strong or very weak, very important or very insignificant, very bad or
very good: feelings of love for one's own country, self-devotion and
submission to fate or to God expressed in a drama, raptures of lovers
described in a novel, feelings of voluptuousness expressed in a picture,
courage expressed in a triumphal march, merriment evoked by a dance,
humor evoked by a funny story, the feeling of quietness transmitted by an
evening landscape or by a lullaby, or the feeling of admiration evoked by a
beautiful arabesque - it is all art.

#9. If only the spectators or auditors are infected by the feelings which the
author has felt, it is art.

#10. To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having
evoked it in oneself, then, by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds,
or forms expressed in words, so to transmit that feeling that others may
experience the same feeling - this is the activity of art.

#11. Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one man consciously, by
means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived
through, and that other people are infected by these feelings and also
experience them.

#12. Art is not, as the metaphysicians say, the manifestation of some

mysterious idea of beauty or God; it is not, as the aesthetical physiologists
say, a game in which man lets off his excess of stored-up energy; it is not
the expression of man's emotions by external signs; it is not the production
of pleasing objects; and, above all, it is not pleasure; but it is a means of
union among men, joining them together in the same feelings, and
indispensable for the life and progress toward well-being of individuals and
of humanity.

#13. As, thanks to man's capacity to express thoughts by words, every man
may know all that has been done for him in the realms of thought by all
humanity before his day, and can in the present, thanks to this capacity to
understand the thoughts of others, become a sharer in their activity and
can himself hand on to his contemporaries and descendants the thoughts
he has assimilated from others, as well as those which have arisen within
himself; so, thanks to man's capacity to be infected with the feelings of
others by means of art, all that is being lived through by his contemporaries
is accessible to him, as well as the feelings experienced by men thousands
of years ago, and he has also the possibility of transmitting his own feelings
to others.

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#14. If people lacked this capacity to receive the thoughts conceived by the
men who preceded them and to pass on to others their own thoughts, men
would be like wild beasts, or like Kaspar Houser.

#15. And if men lacked this other capacity of being infected by art, people
might be almost more savage still, and, above all, more separated from,
and more hostile to, one another.

#16. And therefore the activity of art is a most important one, as important
as the activity of speech itself and as generally diffused.

#17. We are accustomed to understand art to be only what we hear and

see in theaters, concerts, and exhibitions, together with buildings, statues,
poems, novels. . . . But all this is but the smallest part of the art by which
we communicate with each other in life. All human life is filled with works of
art of every kind - from cradlesong, jest, mimicry, the ornamentation of
houses, dress, and utensils, up to church services, buildings, monuments,
and triumphal processions. It is all artistic activity. So that by art, in the
limited sense of the word, we do not mean all human activity transmitting
feelings, but only that part which we for some reason select from it and to
which we attach special importance.

#18. This special importance has always been given by all men to that part
of this activity which transmits feelings flowing from their religious
perception, and this small part of art they have specifically called art,
attaching to it the full meaning of the word.

#19. That was how man of old -- Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle - looked on
art. Thus did the Hebrew prophets and the ancient Christians regard art;
thus it was, and still is, understood by the Mohammedans, and thus it still is
understood by religious folk among our own peasantry.

#20. Some teachers of mankind - as Plato in his Republic and people such
as the primitive Christians, the strict Mohammedans, and the Buddhists --
have gone so far as to repudiate all art.

#21. People viewing art in this way (in contradiction to the prevalent view of
today which regards any art as good if only it affords pleasure) considered,
and consider, that art (as contrasted with speech, which need not be
listened to) is so highly dangerous in its power to infect people against their
wills that mankind will lose far less by banishing all art than by tolerating
each and every art.

#22. Evidently such people were wrong in repudiating all art, for they
denied that which cannot be denied - one of the indispensable means of
communication, without which mankind could not exist. But not less wrong
are the people of civilized European society of our class and day in favoring
any art if it but serves beauty, i.e., gives people pleasure.

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#23. Formerly people feared lest among the works of art there might
chance to be some causing corruption, and they prohibited art altogether.
Now they only fear lest they should be deprived of any enjoyment art can
afford, and patronize any art. And I think the last error is much grosser than
the first and that its consequences are far more harmful.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

#24. Art, in our society, has been so perverted that not only has bad art
come to be considered good, but even the very perception of what art really
is has been lost. In order to be able to speak about the art of our society, it
is, therefore, first of all necessary to distinguish art from counterfeit art.

#25. There is one indubitable indication distinguishing real art from its
counterfeit, namely, the infectiousness of art. If a man, without exercising
effort and without altering his standpoint on reading, hearing, or seeing
another man's work, experiences a mental condition which unites him with
that man and with other people who also partake of that work of art, then
the object evoking that condition is a work of art. And however poetical,
realistic, effectful, or interesting a work may be, it is not a work of art if it
does not evoke that feeling (quite distinct from all other feelings) of joy and
of spiritual union with another (the author) and with others (those who are
also infected by it).

#26. It is true that this indication is an internal one, and that there are
people who have forgotten what the action of real art is, who expect
something else form art (in our society the great majority are in this state),
and that therefore such people may mistake for this aesthetic feeling the
feeling of diversion and a certain excitement which they receive from
counterfeits of art. But though it is impossible to undeceive these people,
just as it is impossible to convince a man suffering from "Daltonism" [a type
of color blindness] that green is not red, yet, for all that, this indication
remains perfectly definite to those whose feeling for art is neither perverted
nor atrophied, and it clearly distinguishes the feeling produced by art from
all other feelings.

#27. The chief peculiarity of this feeling is that the receiver of a true artistic
impression is so united to the artist that he feels as if the work were his own
and not someone else's - as if what it expresses were just what he had long
been wishing to express. A real work of art destroys, in the consciousness
of the receiver, the separation between himself and the artist - not that
alone, but also between himself and all whose minds receive this work of
art. In this freeing of our personality from its separation and isolation, in this
uniting of it with others, lies the chief characteristic and the great attractive
force of art.

#28. If a man is infected by the author's condition of soul, if he feels this

emotion and this union with others, then the object which has effected this
is art; but if there be no such infection, if there be not this union with the

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author and with others who are moved by the same work - then it is not art.
And not only is infection a sure sign of art, but the degree of infectiousness
is also the sole measure of excellence in art.

#29. The stronger the infection, the better is the art as art, speaking now
apart from its subject matter, i.e., not considering the quality of the feelings
it transmits.

#30. And the degree of the infectiousness of art depends on three

conditions:

1. On the greater or lesser individuality of the feeling transmitted;

2. on the greater or lesser clearness with which the feeling is
transmitted;
3. on the sincerity of the artist, i.e., on the greater or lesser force with
which the artist himself feels the emotion he transmits.

#31. The more individual the feeling transmitted the more strongly does it
act on the receiver; the more individual the state of soul into which he is
transferred, the more pleasure does the receiver obtain, and therefore the
more readily and strongly does he join in it.

#32. The clearness of expression assists infection because the receiver,

who mingles in consciousness with the author, is the better satisfied the
more clearly the feeling is transmitted, which, as it seems to him, he has
long known and felt, and for which he has only now found expression.

#33. But most of all is the degree of infectiousness of art increased by the
degree of sincerity in the artist. As soon as the spectator, hearer, or reader
feels that the artist is infected by his own production, and writes, sings, or
plays for himself, and not merely to act on others, this mental condition of
the artist infects the receiver; and contrariwise, as soon as the spectator,
reader, or hearer feels that the author is not writing, singing, or playing for
his own satisfaction - does not himself feel what he wishes to express - but
is doing it for him, the receiver, a resistance immediately springs up, and
the most individual and the newest feelings and the cleverest technique not
only fail to produce any infection but actually repel.

#34. I have mentioned three conditions of contagiousness in art, but they

may be all summed up into one, the last, sincerity, i.e., that the artist should
be impelled by an inner need to express his feeling. That condition includes
the first; for if the artist is sincere he will express the feeling as he
experienced it. And as each man is different from everyone else, his feeling
will be individual for everyone else; and the more individual it is - the more
the artist has drawn it from the depths of his nature - the more sympathetic
and sincere will it be. And this same sincerity will impel the artist to find a
clear expression of the feeling which he wishes to transmit.

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#35. Therefore this third condition - sincerity - is the most important of the
three. It is always complied with in peasant art, and this explains why such
art always acts so powerfully; but it is a condition almost entirely absent
from our upper-class art, which is continually produced by artists actuated
by personal aims of covetousness or vanity.

#36. Such are the three conditions which divide art from its counterfeits,
and which also decide the quality of every work of art apart from its subject
matter.

#37. The absence of any one of these conditions excludes a work form the
category of art and relegates it to that of art's counterfeits. If the work does
not transmit the artist's peculiarity of feeling and is therefore not individual,
if it is unintelligibly expressed, or if it has not proceeded from the author's
inner need for expression - it is not a work of art. If all these conditions are
present, even in the smallest degree, then the work, even if a weak one, is
yet a work of art.

#38. The presence in various degrees of these three conditions -

individuality, clearness, and sincerity - decides the merit of a work of art as
art, apart from subject matter. All works of art take rank of merit according
to the degree in which they fulfill the first, the second, and the third of these
conditions. In one the individuality of the feeling transmitted may
predominate; in another, clearness of expression; in a third, sincerity; while
a fourth may have sincerity and individuality but be deficient in clearness; a
fifth, individuality and clearness but less sincerity; and so forth, in all
possible degrees and combinations.

#39. Thus is art divided from that which is not art, and thus is the quality of
art as art decided, independently of its subject matter, i.e., apart from
whether the feelings it transmits are good or bad.

#40. But how are we to define good and bad art with reference to its
subject matter?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Tolstoy characterizes art in terms of the relationship of the

observer/perceiver both to the artist and to others who perceive the
work. What is the nature of that relationship?
2. He believes that art is an important condition of human life, as it is
used to communicate human feelings or emotions. What are
examples of this communication? Precisely how does this
communication work, according to Tolstoy? What is needed for
successful communication of emotions through art?
3. We communicate our feelings and emotions in ways other than art.
What are examples of some of those other ways? What is unusual
about the communication through art?

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4. This artistic communication uses "external signs," according to
Tolstoy (#11). What might be examples of these "signs." How are the
"signs" used by artists different from, say, traffic signs or directional
arrows in a public building? How is this "communication" with
"external signs" different from "expression" with "external signs"?
(#12)
5. Art is not about the production of "pleasure," Tolstoy claims. Use the
"find" command on your browser (or word-processing program) to
search for the passages where he refers to "pleasure." What does he
seem to mean by "pleasure"? Is he consistent in these passages in
his usage of "pleasure"? What does he seem so hostile to this as a
way of understanding art?
6. Tolstoy lists several other proposals for understanding art that he
rejects. (#12) Does his proposal seem more compelling than those he
rejects? Why?
7. Tolstoy seems to accept a hierarchy in which there is "art" of
everyday life and higher art imbued with religious perception (#17-
18). Is this a plausible distinction? Is it consistent with distinctions you
make? Does it explain the cultural importance of art?
8. Tolstoy discusses Plato's views on art (#19-23). What elements of
Plato's view does he consider he? Does he agree with Plato on any
of his views on art? With what does he disagree?
9. How does Tolstoy propose that we distinguish "real art" from
"counterfeit art" (#24-28)? Is this a workable test? What problems do
you see with it? Can you think of counter-examples that would
challenge his view of how to make this distinction?
10. Tolstoy uses the test of infectiousness, not only as a descriptive
measure for what should count as art, but also as a standard for good
art (#28-32). What does he mean by this standard? How does he
suggest we apply this test to evaluate art? Is this a useful proposal for
evaluating the quality of art? If you disagree with this proposal, how
would you challenge it?
11. How does "sincerity" function in Tolstoy's theory? Use the "find"
command to consider all the passages where he refers to "sincerity."
Is this a useful proposal for understanding and appreciating art? Can
we ever be deceived about an artist's sincerity? How would Tolstoy
respond to such a concern about deception?
12. Tolstoy values what he calls "peasant art" because of its
sincerity (#35). Compare Tolstoy's discussion of "peasant art" with
the praise by Clive Bell less than twenty years later of "primitive art"
(Art, #16). Is their reasoning similar in any ways? How is it different?
Do you think their praise of such art was coincidental?

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