What Is Art? is the consequence of fifteen years’ representation on the nature and reason for art.

Tolstoy claims that all good art relates to the authentic existence of the broader community which the aesthetic worth of a masterpiece of design is not individual of its moral content material. The book can be noteworthy not only for its well-known iconoclasm and convincing attacks in the aestheticist idea of “art for art’s sake” but a lot more for its wit, its lucid and beautiful prose, and its own sincere expression of the deepest social conscience.

Tolstoy is an writer critics typically rank together with Shakespeare and Homer. A sustained consideration of the social import of artwork by a person who was himself an artist of the best stature will usually stay relevant and interesting to anyone thinking about the place of art and books in society.