What Is Art? · Chapters
Chapters explained
Chapter companions for What Is Art? by Leo Tolstoy.
Chapter 1
The Author’s Preface
Tolstoy explains the history of his book 'What Is Art?', detailing how it was mutilated by Russian censors after he agreed to compromises to get it published. He describes the alterations made by Professor Grote and the Spiritual Censor, which distorted his views, and he now presents the work in its true form.
Chapter 2
What Is Art?
Tolstoy introduces the central problem of defining art, critiquing existing aesthetic theories that rely on pleasure or beauty. He argues that true art must be distinguished from counterfeit art and that the prevailing confusion stems from a lack of a clear, objective definition. The chapter sets the stage for his infection theory of art, which will be developed later.
Chapter 3
I
The chapter opens with a translation of Mallarmé's 'The Future Phenomenon,' depicting a decaying world where a showman presents a preserved, beautiful woman from the past to a miserable crowd. The spectators react with indifference or sorrow, while poets find fleeting inspiration, forgetting they live in an age that has outlived beauty.
Chapter 4
Chapter II
This chapter presents a collection of poems by contemporary French poets, including Jean Moréas, Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac, Francis Vielé-Griffin, and Émile Verhaeren, all drawn from page 28 of their respective works. The poems explore themes of love, beauty, time, and the ethereal, with translations provided. The chapter serves as an illustration of modern art that Tolstoy critiques as obscure, exclusive, and disconnected from universal human feeling.
Chapter 5
III
Tolstoy provides a detailed, sarcastic summary of Wagner's 'The Nibelung's Ring' cycle, highlighting its absurdities, incoherent plot, and the unintelligible motivations of its characters, ultimately arguing that even his own unfavorable recapitulation is more favorable than the original librettos.
Chapter 6
IV
This chapter presents translations of French poems and prose, including works by Baudelaire, Verlaine, and Maeterlinck, exploring themes of love, hatred, death, and the sublime in art.
Chapter 7
Chapter V: The Infection Theory of Art
Tolstoy defines art as the transmission of feelings from one person to another, causing infection. He critiques previous definitions (physiological-evolutionary, experimental, and Sully's) for focusing on pleasure rather than art's purpose in human life. Art is a means of union, as important as speech, and is based on the capacity to receive and transmit feelings. He contrasts the ancient view that art should be guided by religious perception with the modern view that any art giving pleasure is good, arguing the latter is more harmful.
Chapter 8
Chapter VI: The Religious Basis of Art and Its Decline
Tolstoy argues that the value of art is determined by the religious perception of a society, which defines good and evil. He traces how early Christianity recognized only art that transmitted feelings of love, humility, and renunciation, rejecting pagan art. However, with the state-enforced conversion of nations under Constantine, Charlemagne, and Vladimir, Church Christianity arose, perverting Christ's true teaching by introducing a heavenly hierarchy and image worship. This new religion, though degraded, still provided a basis for true art among the masses. The upper classes, after the Crusades and exposure to classical wisdom, lost faith in Church doctrine but could not accept Christ's moral teaching, as it threatened their social position. Left without a religious guide, they reverted to a pagan criterion of pleasure and beauty, leading to a theory of art based on personal enjoyment.
Chapter 9
VII
Tolstoy argues that the upper classes, having lost faith in Church Christianity, adopted beauty as the standard for art, leading to the invention of aesthetic theory. He critiques the conflation of beauty and goodness inherited from the Greeks, asserts that no true science of aesthetics existed in antiquity, and condemns the modern aesthetic trinity (Beauty, Truth, Goodness) as a justification for art that merely provides pleasure.
Chapter 10
Chapter VIII
Tolstoy argues that the art of the upper classes is not true, universal art, but a counterfeit that serves only a small elite. He contends that this art is inaccessible to the vast majority of working people due to its cost, its unintelligibility, and its transmission of feelings alien to their lives. He traces the separation of upper-class art from folk art to the loss of faith in Church teaching after the Renaissance, and concludes that the art of the upper classes cannot be the art of the whole people, forcing a dilemma: either art is not vital, or the art called art is not real.
Chapter 11
IX
Tolstoy argues that the unbelief of the upper classes has perverted art, stripping it of religious subject-matter, beauty of form, and sincerity. He contends that true art transmits fresh feelings from religious perception, while upper-class art, focused on enjoyment, is limited to the stale feelings of pride, sexual desire, and weariness of life. He contrasts the rich, varied life of working people with the impoverished emotional range of the idle rich, citing Gontchareff's dismissal of peasant life as an example of this misconception.
Chapter 12
Chapter X
Tolstoy argues that art cannot be both good and incomprehensible to the majority; true art is universally accessible and infects all people regardless of education or development. He criticizes the notion that the masses lack understanding, asserting that incomprehensibility indicates bad art or non-art, and warns that this fallacy leads to the rise of decadent, self-indulgent art.
Chapter 13
The Substitution of Counterfeits for Art
Tolstoy argues that the art of the upper classes has become so impoverished in subject-matter and unintelligible in form that it has ceased to be real art and has been replaced by counterfeits. He identifies four methods of producing these imitations: borrowing (using 'poetical' subjects from previous works), imitating (realistic description of details), striking (physiological effects like novelty or horror), and interesting (engaging the reader's curiosity). These counterfeits, he contends, cannot infect the receiver with genuine feeling and are mistaken for art only by those with perverted aesthetic taste.
Chapter 14
XII
Tolstoy identifies three conditions that produce counterfeit art in society: the professionalization of artists due to high remuneration, the rise of art criticism, and the establishment of art schools. He argues that these factors destroy the sincerity essential to true art, lead to the perversion of taste, and spread imitative, false works.
Chapter 15
Chapter XIII: Wagner and the Counterfeit of Art
Tolstoy uses Richard Wagner's operas, particularly 'The Nibelung's Ring', as a prime example of counterfeit art. He argues that Wagner's attempt to force music to serve poetry destroys true artistic creation, producing only imitations that rely on borrowed poeticality, imitation, striking effects, and interestingness. Tolstoy describes attending a performance in Moscow and compares the experience to hypnotism or spiritualist séances, claiming that the audience's admiration stems from artificial conditions rather than genuine artistic infection.
Chapter 16
XIV
Tolstoy argues that most of what upper-class society considers art is actually counterfeit, not real art, because it fails to transmit genuine feeling. He contrasts the infectious joy of peasant singing with the artificiality of Beethoven's later sonata, illustrating how perverted taste cannot distinguish true art from its ornate imitations.
Chapter 17
XV
Tolstoy defines the distinguishing mark of true art as its infectiousness—the ability to unite the receiver with the artist and with others. He identifies three conditions that determine the degree of infectiousness: individuality of the feeling, clearness of expression, and, most importantly, sincerity of the artist. The absence of any one condition relegates a work to counterfeit art. He notes that sincerity is always present in peasant art but almost entirely absent in upper-class art, which is driven by covetousness or vanity.
Chapter 18
Chapter XVI
Tolstoy establishes a definitive criterion for judging art: its infectiousness and accessibility. He argues that true Christian art must unite all people through feelings of love for God and neighbor, or through simple universal feelings. He condemns exclusive, complex works like Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Shakespeare, and Goethe as bad art, and calls for a rejection of art that divides rather than unites humanity.
Chapter 19
XVII
Tolstoy argues that art is one of two organs of human progress, alongside words, for interchanging feelings. He contends that in modern society, the organ of art has been perverted, depriving the upper classes of true art and replacing it with counterfeits that amuse and corrupt. This perversion leads to enormous waste of human labor and lives on harmful artistic productions, supports the idle rich by masking the emptiness of their lives, and confuses peasants and children who see artists rewarded more than saints or heroes. Tolstoy concludes that existing art hinders goodness and calls for understanding the error to seek escape.
Chapter 20
XVIII
Tolstoy argues that the art of the upper classes has become corrupted because they abandoned true Christian teaching without fully embracing it, leading to a counterfeit art driven by gain and pleasure. He contrasts this with true art, which arises from an inner need to express feelings that unite humanity. He identifies the religious perception of the age—the union of mankind—as the proper guide for art, and predicts that once this is acknowledged, art will become a universal, brotherly force for progress and blessedness, rejecting divisive and exclusive works.
Chapter 21
XIX
Tolstoy envisions a future art that breaks from the exclusive, perverted art of the upper classes. He argues that true art of the future will be based on religious perception, transmitting feelings that unite all people, and will be produced by all gifted individuals, not just professionals. It will be characterized by clearness, simplicity, and brevity, and artists will live common lives, not as paid specialists.
Chapter 22
XX: The Conclusion
Tolstoy concludes his work by emphasizing the profound role of art in shaping human behavior and society. He argues that art, guided by true science and religious perception, can transform the feeling of brotherhood and love into an instinct for all people, replacing violence and coercion with free, joyous cooperation. He calls for a reform of science to align with moral and religious knowledge, so that art may fulfill its destiny of establishing universal union and the kingdom of God on earth.
Chapter 23
Appendices
The appendices provide supplementary material, including a translation of an excerpt from a letter by Richard Wagner and a translation of a poem by Baudelaire, which illustrate the aesthetic theories discussed in the main text.
Chapter 24
I
The chapter opens with a translation of Mallarmé's 'The Future Phenomenon,' depicting a decaying world where a showman presents a preserved, beautiful woman from the past to a miserable crowd. The spectators react with indifference or sorrow, while poets find fleeting inspiration, forgetting they live in an age that has outlived beauty.
Chapter 25
Chapter II
This chapter presents a collection of poems by contemporary French poets, including Jean Moréas, Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac, Francis Vielé-Griffin, and Émile Verhaeren, all drawn from page 28 of their respective works. The poems explore themes of love, beauty, time, and the ethereal, with translations provided. The chapter serves as an illustration of modern art that Tolstoy critiques as obscure, exclusive, and disconnected from universal human feeling.
Chapter 26
III
Tolstoy provides a detailed, sarcastic summary of Wagner's 'The Nibelung's Ring' cycle, highlighting its absurdities, incoherent plot, and the unintelligible motivations of its characters, ultimately arguing that even his own unfavorable recapitulation is more favorable than the original librettos.
Chapter 27
IV
This chapter presents translations of French poems and prose, including works by Baudelaire, Verlaine, and Maeterlinck, exploring themes of love, hatred, death, and the sublime in art.
Chapter 28
Endnotes
The endnotes provide translator's notes, citations, and clarifications on Tolstoy's references, including discussions on censorship, aesthetics, and various philosophical and artistic sources.
