Contents
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18971897

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Author : Leo Tolstoy

Translator : Aylmer Maude

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Introduction      v

Author’s Preface      xxxiii

CHAPTER I

Time and labor spent on art—Lives stunted in its service—Morality
sacrificed to and anger justified by art—The
rehearsal of an opera described      1

CHAPTER II

Does art compensate for so much evil?—What is art?—Confusion
of opinions—Is it “that which produces beauty”?—The
word “beauty” in Russian—Chaos in æsthetics      9

CHAPTER III

Summary of various æsthetic theories and definitions, from
Baumgarten to to-day      20

CHAPTER IV

Definitions of art founded on beauty—Taste not definable—A
clear definition needed to enable us to recognize works
of art      38

CHAPTER V

Definitions not founded on beauty—Tolstoy’s definition—The
extent and necessity of art—How people in the past have
distinguished good from bad in art      46

xxxviiiCHAPTER VI

How art for pleasure has come into esteem—Religions indicate
what is considered good and bad—Church Christianity—The
Renaissance—Skepticism of the upper classes—They
confound beauty with goodness      53

CHAPTER VII

An æsthetic theory framed to suit this view of life      61

CHAPTER VIII

Who have adopted it?—Real art needful for all men—Our art
too expensive, too unintelligible, and too harmful for the
masses—The theory of “the elect” in art      67

CHAPTER IX

Perversion of our art—It has lost its natural subject-matter—Has
no flow of fresh feeling—Transmits chiefly three base
emotions      73

CHAPTER X

Loss of comprehensibility—Decadent art—Recent French art—Have
we a right to say it is bad and that what we like
is good art?—The highest art has always been comprehensible
to normal people—What fails to infect normal
people is not art      79

CHAPTER XI

Counterfeits of art produced by: Borrowing; Imitating;
Striking; Interesting—Qualifications needful for production
of real works of art, and those sufficient for production
of counterfeits      106

CHAPTER XII

Causes of production of counterfeits—Professionalism—Criticism—Schools
of art      118

CHAPTER XIII

Wagner’s “Nibelung’s Ring” a type of counterfeit art—Its
success, and the reasons thereof      128

xxxixCHAPTER XIV

Truths fatal to preconceived views are not readily recognized—Proportion
of works of art to counterfeits—Perversion
of taste and incapacity to recognize art—Examples                   143

CHAPTER XV

The quality of art, considered apart from its subject-matter—The
sign of art: infectiousness—Incomprehensible
to those whose taste is perverted—Conditions of
infection: Individuality; Clearness; Sincerity                       152

CHAPTER XVI

The quality of art, considered according to its subject-matter—The
better the feeling the better the art—The
cultured crowd—The religious perception of our age—The
new ideals put fresh demands to art—Art unites—Religious
art—Universal art—Both co-operate to one
result—The new appraisement of art—Bad art—Examples
of art—How to test a work claiming to be art                         156

CHAPTER XVII

Results of absence of true art—Results of perversion of art:
Labor and lives spent on what is useless and harmful—The
abnormal life of the rich—Perplexity of children and
plain folk—Confusion of right and wrong—Nietzsche and
Redbeard—Superstition, Patriotism, and Sensuality                     175

CHAPTER XVIII

The purpose of human life is the brotherly union of man—Art
must be guided by this perception      187

CHAPTER XIX

The art of the future not a possession of a select minority, but
a means towards perfection and unity                                   192

CHAPTER XX

The connection between science and art—The mendacious
sciences; the trivial sciences—Science should deal with
the great problems of human life, and serve as a basis
for art                                                                200


     From : Gutenberg.org

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     Contents -- Publication : November 30, 1896

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