TOLSTOY

Tolstoy's concept of "universal" art affirms that art is relevant to everyone. Art is relevant to
every aspect of the human condi>on. Therefore, art must aim to be "universal." Art is
"universal" if it expresses thoughts and feelings which can be experienced by every human
being. He believes that art is an important condi>on of human life, as it is used to communicate
human feelings or emo>ons

SEROV
The first modern formalist of Russian art, Serov was also the first ar>st to consciously choose a
par>cular style out of the many then available. Name that Painter! His first famous portrait of
Vera Mamontova—Girl with Peaches (1887)—displays his complete mastery of the
Impressionist idiom. Serov was unique in having discovered the intersec>on between the
portrait genre and the formal ideal of Art Nouveau. At >mes Serov’s portraits border on
exaggera>on, but his mordant characteriza>ons do not conflict with his subjects’ imposing
quali>es.

KANDINSKY

Among his most notable works are Blue Rider (1903, private collec>on), Black Frame (1922,
Musee Na>onal d'Art Moderne, Paris) and Several Circles (1926, Guggenheim Museum).

SOCRATES
Peculiar and influen>al, and has imparted to intellectuals and ar>sts a set of enduring
philosophical problems concerning the arts. Despite the fact that ‘Art,’ a dis>nctly modern
concept, was one that Socrates did not know, his entanglement in ancient poetry and Afc
Tragedy show that Socrates was an eminent cri>c of various ancient Athenian argorms: a role
that was instrumental in his execu>on.

PLATO
Plato says that art imitates the objects and events of ordinary life. In other words, a work of art
is a copy of a copy of a Form. It is even more of an illusion than is ordinary experience. On this
theory, works of art are at best entertainment, and at worst a dangerous delusion

ARISTOTLE

The various arts are distinguished, he thinks, according to the means of rhythm,
language, and harmony. The notion of katharsis[5] is essential to mimesis as the
pleasure derived from an essentially cognitive process. For him, art is the product, not
the creative process, whose source is intellectual desire and whose effect is more
intellectual than emotional. The import of these short reading selections continue to be
elucidated in contemporary æsthetic debates.
HEGEL
More specifically, art’s role is to bring to mind truths about ourselves and our freedom that
we o;en lose sight of in our everyday ac<vity. Its role is to show us (or remind us of)
the true character of freedom. Art fulfills this role by showing us the freedom of spirit in its
purest form without the con<ngencies of everyday life. That is to say, art at its best presents
us not with the all too familiar dependencies and drudgery of daily existence, but with
the ideal of freedom

SPENCER
CHURCH HOUSE This ongoing project further highlights the artist's pioneering interest in
uniting explicit sex and religion, something quite common in Eastern devotion (for
example, sacred temples in India decorated by the female yoni, symbol of the vagina),
but considered shocking as relatively unheard of in Christianity.

KANT
The cul>va>on of aesthe>c experience as a deliberate value was the work of Kant, who
developed a cri>cal criterion for the aptness of a work of art for apprecia>on, based upon its
formal proper>es, rather than upon prac>cal significance or importance of subject maier.