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''What is Art?'' ((ロシア語:Что такое искусство? Chto takoye iskusstvo)?) is a book by Leo Tolstoy. It was completed in Russian in 1897 but first published in English due to difficulties with the Russian censors.〔Simmons, Ernest (1973). ''What is Art?'', in ''Tolstoy''. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. p. 178.〕 Tolstoy cites the time, effort, public funds, and public respect spent on art and artists〔Tolstoy, Leo (1995 ()). ''What is Art?'' (Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky). London: Penguin. pp. 3–4.〕 as well as the imprecision of general opinions on art〔Tolstoy 1995 (), pp. 9-13.〕 as reason for writing the book. In his words, "it is difficult to say what is meant by art, and especially what is good, useful art, art for the sake of which we might condone such sacrifices as are being offered at its shrine".〔Tolstoy 1995 (), p. 9.〕 Throughout the book Tolstoy demonstrates an "unremitting moralism", evaluating artworks in light of his radical Christian ethics,〔Jahn 1975, p. 63.〕 and displaying a willingness to dismiss accepted masters, including Wagner,〔Tolstoy 1995 (), pp. 101-12.〕 Shakespeare,〔Tolstoy 1995 (), pp. 33-4, 137.〕 and Dante,〔Tolstoy 1995 (), p. 95, 137.〕 as well as the bulk of his own writings.〔Tolstoy 1995 (), pp. 197-198.〕 Having rejected the use of beauty in definitions of art (see aesthetic theory), Tolstoy conceptualises art as anything that communicates emotion: "Art begins when a man, with the purpose of communicating to other people a feeling he once experienced, calls it up again within himself and expresses it by certain external signs".〔Tolstoy 1995 (), p. 38.〕 This view of art is inclusive: "jokes", "home decoration", and "church services" may all be considered art as long as they convey feeling.〔Tolstoy 1995 (), p. 41, Jahn 1975, p. 60.〕 It is also amoral: "()eelings … very bad and very good, if only they infect the reader … constitute the subject of art".〔Tolstoy 1995 (), p. 39.〕 Tolstoy also notes that the "sincerity" of the artist—that is, the extent to which the artist "experiences the feeling he conveys"—influences the infection.〔Tolstoy 1995 (), p. 121, 93, 99-100.〕 == Evaluating the content of art == While Tolstoy's basic conception of art is broad〔Tolstoy 1995 (), p. 41.〕 and amoral,〔 his idea of "good" art is strict and moralistic, based on what he sees as the function of art in the development of humanity: just as in the evolution of knowledge - that is, the forcing out and supplanting of mistaken and unnecessary knowledge by truer and more necessary knowledge - so the evolution of feelings takes place by means of art, replacing lower feelings, less kind and less needed for the good of humanity, by kinder feelings, more needed for that good. This is the purpose of art.〔Tolstoy 1995 (), pp. 123-4.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「What Is Art?」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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