1.1.1.

          Art without a connection with transcendence

          Tolstoy sets forth how art that prevailed since the Renaissance with the 'ruling classes' chose her own direction, and annexed improperly the predicate 'universal art'. This art only intends to please and entertain its audience, and neglects therefore its connection with any religious perception. For because of his desire to please the audience as much as possible, the artist is following the taste of his audience, instead of his own feelings. The audience educates the artist, in showing him what it would like to see produced as artistic performance. This has its effect on the form and content of this entertainment-art. The original morally educational working of art devaluates to mere entertainment of audience.
          Because any connection with a religious perception is absent, art stays devoid of any originality in its expression of feelings. Tolstoy reckons this to be a historical fact, that he noticed everywhere in the history of mankind. "There is nothing older and more hackneyed than enjoyment, and there is nothing fresher than the feelings springing from the religious consciousness of each age" (pg. 86). Feelings that only aspire for entertainment, were from of old not only esteemed as such, but had also been rejected because of this. "From the fresh religious perception of the ancient Greeks flowed the really new feelings expressed by Homer and the tragic writers".
          The content of this entertainment-art shrivelled up even more because the artists had been choosing as subject matter particularly the life-styles of the extravagant and privileged. This explains why most art from these circles has had mostly three primal feelings as subject matter; respectively feelings of pride, feelings of sexual desire, and feelings of boredom with life (pg. 184).
          Artists use a whole range of artificial methods to keep hold of the attention of their audience (pg. 118). Therefore there is no real communication of feelings between the artist and his audience. They are just employing a set of well-tried tricks to manipulate the emotional mood of their audience, so that they will become greatly appreciated. These methods can be ranged successively as (1) borrowing, (2) imitation, (3) dramatic effect, and (4) arousing interest.
          Ad 1.) Borrowing. This consists of continuos copying of previous works that are known to have a highly appreciated poetic value. The artist uses subject matters like old legends, fairy tales and mythic warriors. This repetitive reciting of traditionally appreciated works masks the lack of expression of own feelings.
          Ad 2.) The essence of imitation consists of reproducing in the greatest extent all details of what has been described or on some other manner has been represented. This realism is because of its excessive use of details aggravating, and it leads the audience away from being infected with feelings, that are being performed. Judging art by its level of realism or by its extent of details is like deducting the nutritiousness of for example bread by its outside appearance. The attractive exterior is meant to be masking the empty content inside.
          Ad 3.) The third method predominantly uses physical action and contrasting extremities to evoke dramatic effects. The artist attempts to browbeat his audience as much as possible by being lavish of all sorts explicit and sensational details of sex and violence. Especially with dramatic art on stage it is common to enlarge on dramatic situations, trying very hard to have the final destruction and death of the leading part leave behind a deep impression with its audience. This results in a feeling of excitement that however has nothing to do with any aesthetic experience. It rather could be reckoned to leave behind a mixture of pity and sympathy for its victim and a sense of relief that it concerns somebody else than us. One could compare it with watching a public execution or the bloody 'entertainment' that the Romans had been performing in their circuses.
          Ad 4.) People derive a lot of pleasure by occupying themselves with subjects full of information and all sort of riddles out of books, pretending to be evoking a feeling originating from art. The great mental effort that accompanies this is at the cost of the infectiousness of feelings.
          Art tends to be positively valued when it is considered to poetic, realistic, dramatic or interesting (pg. 125). Tolstoy's analyses shows obviously that these four accepted qualifications are not only no standard for excellence in art, but that they truly have nothing to do with art in the real sense. All of this art suffers from the same defect, that is that the artist is not expressing sincerely his true feelings. The artist is forced to seek refuge in mechanically preconceived methods to give his audience pleasure. His work that lacks a connection with his own internal and spiritual life, will always possess a artificial character. That's why Tolstoy calls this 'imitation-art'.
          An accepted saying of some artists is that we're only able to understand their art, if we have been going into this art and have been exposing ourselves more deeply and more intensively to it (pg. 112). Tolstoy posits that this repetitive exposure to this art is not in any way giving us any further explanation. Art differs from cognitive understanding like for example geometry, where a certain preliminary knowledge is necessary (pg. 115). Art does not require any sort of thorough intellectual explication. For art is meant for our sentient awareness, that is not capable to reason. An artistic expression can infect people apart from their rational development. For its communication of feelings makes us gain insight in that what us out of reach of our rational discursive consciousness. Any repetitive exposure only causes with us some sort habituation.
          The rising and domination of imitation art has had a lot of negative effects on society. This is because the abundance of imitation art made us lose our taste for any good art. People are no longer capable to be infected by any real piece of art, thereby cutting them of of the most high-principled feelings in life. They grow up without the morally nutritious effect of art. They are not becoming friendlier, but in contrary become more rude and vile.
          In their role of entertainers the artists within time will be getting accustomed to the taste of applause, and their self-conceit will rise to a level of insatiable vanity.  These artists are  not capable anymore to express their own feelings. Therefore they lose their original perception for the meaning of life, and with that their view on morality will be getting distorted. Their art degenerates in becoming a way of past-time, filling up the inner emptiness of peoples lives. All people whose taste is not yet perverted have a clear opinion of what ought to be respected or despised. In their view it is astonishing how people can be earning an enormous some of money, and are getting overloaded with more honour than saints (pg. 191).
          This imitation art infects people with the most despicable and for mankind damaging feelings such as superstition, nationalism and sensuality. People have their opinion about the most important things in life easier influenced by artistic expressions, than by any factual and reasonable research.  The direct and unavoidable psychological impact art has on human emotions, suggests that something reasonable has been said. All dogma's and all superstition of the Christian Church are reinforced and supported with paintings, songs and all other means of artistic expression (pg. 196). Often when people are proclaiming a nationalistic prejudice, some artefact like a monument or a song will be used to support this. Art that preaches this sort of religious- or nationalistic prejudice will poison and bitter the masses. Thereby it actually will be stalling any development of our civilization. Feelings of sexual desire are constituting an essential part in lots of artistic creations. Art has been using sensuality to bring people in a state of unsatisfactory desire. Tolstoy calls this art an effect of 'erotic mania', that seems to direct all human interest at sensuality.
          Tolstoy concludes as a result of these factors that this imitation art will not be contributing any bit to human progress, on the contrary it even will be obstructing any further development (pg. 197). For this art will have the potential to infect the emotional perception of people with immoral feelings, because it will be impossible to avoid this emotional impact of art with some sort of rational defence. With this final consideration Tolstoy joins Plato's conviction in the Politeia, which tells that because of the dangerous and poisonous character there better be no art at all, than any moral inferior (pg. 198).
 
 

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Last updated April 29, 1999 author: Drs. T. J.  Kuijl ©1995-1999. Comments are welcome and can be send via e-mail (click on e-mail) Quotations of the content of this article should mention the author's name and its source. Copies of this article must leave the text unaltered including the copyright reference.