What Is Art?

Translated by Aylmer Maude

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"What Is Art?" by graf Leo Tolstoy is a philosophical work completed in 1897. Tolstoy questions the very nature of art, rejecting beauty-based definitions to propose that art is anything communicating emotion—from jokes to church services. Yet his Christian moralism leads him to dismiss celebrated masters like Beethoven, Wagner, and Shakespeare, along with most of his own writings. He condemns the obscurity and artificiality of contemporary art, insisting that true art must be accessible to all and serve humanity's moral evolution by evoking brotherhood and love.

Summary written by Project Gutenberg, by machine.