What is art. Art as a specific form of reflection of reality

Art is a specific and fairly autonomous part of culture. It is called upon to “reveal the truth in sensuous form” (Hegel); “to correct nature” (Voltaire); “to help people understand life more deeply and love it more” (R. Kent); “to illuminate with light the depths of the human soul” (R. Schumann); not just reflect reality, but “reflect, deny or bless” (V. G. Korolenko).

Art is a form of culture associated with the subject’s ability to aesthetically, practically and spiritually master the world; a special aspect of social consciousness and human activity, which is a reflection of reality in artistic images; one of the most important ways of aesthetic understanding of objective reality, its reproduction in a figurative and symbolic key, relying on the resources of creative imagination; a specific means of a person’s holistic self-affirmation of his essence, a way of forming the “human” in a person.

Art is an “image”, an image of the world and a person, formed in the mind of the artist and expressed by him in words, sounds, colors, form; art - artistic creativity in general.

Characteristic features of art: it serves as a powerful means of communication between people; associated with experiences and emotions; presupposes predominantly sensory perception and certainly subjective perception and vision of reality; it is characterized by imagery and creativity.

Social functions of art.

Cognitive (epistemological) function. Reflecting reality, art is one of the ways to understand the spiritual world of people, the psychology of classes, nations, individuals and social relations. The specificity of this function of art is in addressing the inner world of a person, the desire to penetrate into the sphere of the innermost spirituality and moral motives of the individual.

The axiological function of art is to assess its impact on the individual in the context of defining ideals (or the negation of certain paradigms), i.e., generalized ideas about the perfection of spiritual development, about the normative model, the orientation towards and the desire for which is set by the artist as a representative of society.

Communication function. Summarizing and concentrating the diverse life experiences of people of different eras, countries and generations, expressing their feelings, taste, ideal, views on the world, their attitude and worldview, art is one of the universal means of communication, communication between people, enriching the spiritual world of an individual experience of all mankind. Classic works unite cultures and eras, expanding the horizons of the human worldview. “Art, all art,” wrote L. N. Tolstoy, “in itself has the property of uniting people. All art does what people perceive the feeling conveyed by the artist and, secondly, with all people who received the same impression ".

The hedonistic function lies in the fact that true art brings pleasure to people and spiritualizes them.

Aesthetic function. By its nature, art is the highest form of exploration of the world “according to the laws of beauty.” It, in fact, arose as a reflection of reality in its aesthetic originality. Expressing aesthetic consciousness and influencing people, forming an aesthetic worldview, and through it the entire spiritual world of the individual.

Heuristic function. The creation of a work of art is an experience of creativity - the concentration of a person’s creative powers, his fantasy and imagination, the culture of feelings and the height of ideals, the depth of thoughts and skill. Mastering artistic values is also a creative activity. Art itself carries within itself the amazing ability to awaken thoughts and feelings inherent in a work of art, and the very ability to create in a universal manifestation. The influence of art does not disappear with the cessation of direct contact with a work of art: productive emotional and mental energy is protected, as it were, “in reserve”, and is included in the stable basis of the personality.

Educational function. Art expresses the entire system of human relations to the world - norms and ideals of freedom, truth, goodness, justice and beauty. The viewer’s holistic, active perception of a work of art is co-creation; it acts as a way of the intellectual and emotional spheres of consciousness in their harmonious interaction. This is the purpose of the educational and praxeological (activity) role of art.

The laws of the functioning of art include the following features: the development of art is not progressive in nature, it comes in spurts; works of art always express the artist’s subjective vision of the world and have a subjective assessment on the part of the reader, viewer, listener; artistic masterpieces are timeless and relatively independent of changing group and national tastes; art is democratic (it influences people regardless of their education and intelligence, and does not recognize any social barriers); true art, as a rule, is humanistically oriented; interaction of tradition and innovation.

Thus, art is a specific type of spiritual activity of people, which is characterized by a creative, sensory perception of the surrounding world in artistic and figurative forms.

Kent); “to illuminate the depths of the human soul with light” (R. Schumann); not just reflect reality, but “reflect, deny or bless” (V. G. Korolenko).

Art is an “image”, an image of the world and a person, formed in the mind of the artist and expressed by him in words, sounds, colors, form; art – artistic creativity in general.

Social functions of art.

N. Tolstoy, - in itself has the ability to unite people. All art does what people perceive the feeling conveyed by the artist and, secondly, with all the people who received the same impression.”

The hedonistic function lies in the fact that true art brings pleasure to people (not hiding evil) and spiritualizes them.

Thus, art is a specific type of spiritual activity of people, which is characterized by a creative, sensory perception of the surrounding world in artistic and figurative forms.

More on topic 5.1 Art as a specific form of reflection of reality:

Cognitive (epistemological) function. Reflecting reality, art is one of the ways to understand the spiritual world of people, the psychology of classes, nations, individuals and social relations. The specificity of this function of art is in addressing the inner world of a person, the desire to penetrate into the sphere of the innermost spirituality and moral motives of the individual.

Axiological function of art consists in assessing its impact on the individual in the context of defining ideals (or the negation of certain paradigms), i.e., generalized ideas about the perfection of spiritual development, about the normative model, the orientation towards and the desire for which is set by the artist as a representative of society.

Communication function. Summarizing and concentrating the diverse life experiences of people of different eras, countries and generations, expressing their feelings, taste, ideal, views on the world, their attitude and worldview, art is one of the universal means of communication, communication between people, enriching the spiritual world of an individual experience of all mankind. Classic works unite cultures and eras, expanding the horizons of the human worldview. “Art, all art,” wrote L.N. Tolstoy, “in itself has the property of uniting people. All art does what people perceive the feeling conveyed by the artist and, secondly, with all the people who received the same impression.”

Hedonic function lies in the fact that true art brings people pleasure (not hiding evil) and spiritualizes them.

Aesthetic function. By its nature, art is the highest form of exploration of the world “according to the laws of beauty.” It, in fact, arose as a reflection of reality in its aesthetic originality. Expressing aesthetic consciousness and influencing people, forming an aesthetic worldview, and through it the entire spiritual world of the individual.

Heuristic function. The creation of a work of art is an experience of creativity - the concentration of a person’s creative powers, his fantasy and imagination, the culture of feelings and the height of ideals, the depth of thoughts and skill. Mastering artistic values is also a creative activity. Art itself carries within itself the amazing ability to awaken thoughts and feelings inherent in a work of art, and the very ability to create in a universal manifestation. The influence of art does not disappear with the cessation of direct contact with a work of art: productive emotional and mental energy is protected, as it were, “in reserve”, and is included in the stable basis of the personality.

Educational function. Art expresses the entire system of human relations to the world - norms and ideals of freedom, truth, goodness, justice and beauty. The viewer’s holistic, active perception of a work of art is co-creation; it acts as a way of the intellectual and emotional spheres of consciousness in their harmonious interaction. This is the purpose of the educational and praxeological (activity) role of art.

On the patterns of functioning of art The following features include: the development of art is not progressive in nature, it comes in spurts; works of art always express the artist’s subjective vision of the world and have a subjective assessment on the part of the reader, viewer, listener; artistic masterpieces are timeless and relatively independent of changing group and national tastes; art is democratic (it influences people regardless of their education and intelligence, and does not recognize any social barriers); true art, as a rule, is humanistically oriented; interaction of tradition and innovation.

Thus, art is a specific type of spiritual activity of people, which is characterized by a creative, sensory perception of the surrounding world in artistic and figurative forms.

It is true that this sign is internal and that people who have forgotten about the effect produced by real art and expect something completely different from art - and there is a huge majority of them among our society - may think that that feeling of entertainment and some excitement that they experience when counterfeiting art, and there is an aesthetic feeling, and although these people cannot be dissuaded, just as it is impossible to dissuade a person with color blindness that green is not red, nevertheless this sign is for people with an unperverted and unatrophied sense of art remains completely definite and clearly distinguishes the feeling produced by art from any other.
The main feature of this feeling is that the perceiver merges with the artist to such an extent that it seems to him that the object he perceives was made not by someone else, but by himself, and that everything that is expressed by this object is the very thing that he had wanted to express this for so long. What a true work of art does is that in the mind of the perceiver the division between him and the artist is destroyed, and not only between him and the artist, but also between him and all the people who perceive the same work of art. It is in this liberation of the individual from his separation from other people, from his loneliness, in this merging of the individual with others, that the main attractive force and property of art lies.
If a person experiences this feeling, becomes infected with the state of soul in which the author is, and feels his merging with other people, then the object that causes this state is art; there is no this infection, there is no merging with the author and with those who perceive the work - and there is no art. But not only is contagiousness an undoubted sign of art, the degree of contagiousness is also the only measure of the dignity of art.
The stronger the infection, the better the art as art, not to mention its content, that is, regardless of the merits of the feelings it conveys.
Art becomes more or less infectious due to three conditions: 1) due to the greater or lesser specificity of the feeling that is conveyed; 2) due to the greater or lesser clarity of the transfer of this feeling and 3) due to the sincerity of the artist, that is, the greater or lesser strength with which the artist himself experiences the feeling that he conveys.
The more special the feeling conveyed, the stronger its effect on the recipient. The perceiver experiences greater pleasure the more special the state of soul into which he is transferred, and therefore the more willingly and strongly he merges with it.
The clarity of expression of a feeling contributes to contagion, because, merging in his consciousness with the author, the perceiver is the more satisfied, the more clearly expressed is the feeling that, as it seems to him, he has known and experienced for a long time and for which he has now only found expression.
Most of all, the degree of contagiousness of art increases by the degree of sincerity of the artist. As soon as the viewer, listener, reader feels that the artist himself is infected by his work and writes, sings, plays for himself, and not just to influence others, such a mental state of the artist infects the perceiver, and vice versa: as soon as the viewer, reader , the listener feels that the author, not for his own satisfaction, but for him, for the perceiver, writes, sings, plays and does not himself feel what he wants to express, so there is a rebuff, and the most special, new feeling, and the most skillful technique not only They don’t make any impression, but they repel.
I am talking about three conditions for the contagiousness and dignity of art, but in essence there is only one last condition, that the artist should feel an inner need to express the feeling he conveys. This condition includes the first, because if the artist is sincere, then he will express the feeling as he perceived it. And since each person is different from the other, then this feeling will be special for every other and the more special the deeper the artist draws it, the more sincere and sincere it is. The same sincerity will force the artist to find a clear expression of the feeling that he wants to convey.
Therefore, this third condition - sincerity - is the most important of the three. This condition is always present in folk art, which is why it acts so strongly, and is almost completely absent in our art of the upper classes, which is constantly produced by artists for their personal, selfish or vain purposes.
These are the three conditions, the presence of which separates art from counterfeits and at the same time determines the dignity of any work of art, regardless of its content.
The absence of one of these conditions means that the work no longer belongs to art, but to fakes of it. If a work does not convey the individual characteristics of the artist’s feelings and is therefore not special, if it is not clearly expressed, or if it did not arise from the inner needs of the author, it is not a work of art. If, however, all three conditions are present, even to the smallest degree, then the work, even if weak, is a work of art.
The presence in varying degrees of three conditions: specificity, clarity and sincerity, determines the dignity of objects of art as art, regardless of its content. All works of art are distributed in their merit according to the presence to a greater or lesser extent of one, the other, or the third of these conditions. In one, the peculiarity of the conveyed feeling predominates, in the other - clarity of expression, in the third - sincerity, in the fourth sincerity and peculiarity, but lack of clarity, in the fifth - peculiarity and clarity, but less sincerity, etc. in all possible degrees and combinations .
This is how art is separated from non-art and the dignity of art as art is determined regardless of its content, that is, regardless of whether it conveys good or bad feelings.
But what determines good and bad art?
XVI
What determines good and bad art?
Art, together with speech, is one of the tools of communication, and therefore of progress, that is, the movement forward of humanity towards perfection. Speech makes it possible for people of the last living generations to know everything that previous generations and the best progressive people of our time learned through experience and reflection; art makes it possible for people of the last living generations to experience all those feelings that people have experienced before and that the best progressive people are currently experiencing. And just as the evolution of knowledge occurs, that is, more true, necessary knowledge displaces and replaces erroneous and unnecessary knowledge, so exactly does the evolution of feelings occur through art, displacing lower, less kind and less necessary feelings for the good of people with kinder, more necessary for this good. This is the purpose of art. And therefore, in terms of its content, art is better the more it fulfills this purpose, and the worse it is, the less it fulfills it.
The assessment of feelings, that is, the recognition of certain feelings as more or less good, that is, necessary for the good of people, is accomplished by the religious consciousness of a certain time.
At every given historical time and in every human society, there is a higher understanding of the meaning of life that the people of this society have only reached, which determines the highest good to which that society strives. This understanding is the religious consciousness of a certain time and society. This religious consciousness is always clearly expressed by some leading people in society and is more or less vividly felt by everyone. Such religious consciousness, corresponding to its expression, always exists in every society. If it seems to us that there is no religious consciousness in society, then it seems to us not because it really does not exist, but because we do not want to see it. And we don’t want to see it often because it exposes our life, which disagrees with it.
Religious consciousness in society is like the direction of a flowing river. If a river flows, then there is a direction in which it flows. If a society lives, then there is a religious consciousness that indicates the direction in which all the people of this society more or less consciously strive.
And therefore, religious consciousness has always been and is in every society. And according to this religious consciousness, the feelings conveyed by art have always been assessed. Only on the basis of this religious consciousness of its time has always stood out from the entire infinitely diverse field of art that which conveys the feelings that realize the religious consciousness of a given time in life. And such art has always been highly valued and encouraged; art that conveys feelings arising from the religious consciousness of previous times, backward, already experienced, has always been condemned and despised. The rest of all art, conveying all the most diverse feelings through which people communicate with each other, was not condemned and was allowed, unless it conveyed feelings that were contrary to religious consciousness. So, for example, the Greeks singled out, approved and encouraged art that conveyed feelings of beauty, strength, courage (Hesiod, Homer, Phidias), and condemned and despised art that conveyed feelings of coarse sensuality, despondency, and effeminacy. Among the Jews, art that conveyed feelings of devotion and obedience to the God of the Jews and his covenants (some parts of the book of Genesis, prophets, psalms) was distinguished and encouraged, and art that conveyed feelings of idolatry (the golden calf) was condemned and despised; all other art - stories, songs, dances, house decorations, utensils, clothing - that was not contrary to religious consciousness was not recognized or discussed at all. This is how art has been regarded in its content always and everywhere, and this is how it should be regarded, because such an attitude towards art follows from the properties of human nature, and these properties do not change.
I know that, according to the widespread opinion of our time, religion is a superstition experienced by humanity, and that therefore it is assumed that in our time there is no religious consciousness common to all people by which art could be assessed. I know that this is a common opinion in the supposedly educated circles of our time. People who do not recognize Christianity in its true sense and therefore come up with all sorts of philosophical and aesthetic theories that hide from them the meaninglessness and depravity of their lives cannot think otherwise. These people intentionally, and sometimes unintentionally, mixing the concepts of the cult of religion with the concept of religious creation, think that by denying the cult, they are thereby denying religious consciousness. But all these attacks on religion and attempts to establish a worldview that is contrary to the religious consciousness of our time most obviously prove the presence of this religious consciousness, denouncing the lives of people who do not agree with it.
If progress is made in humanity, that is, movement forward, then there must inevitably be an indicator of the direction of this movement. And religions have always been such a guide. All history shows that the progress of mankind has not been accomplished except under the guidance of religion. If the progress of mankind cannot occur without the guidance of religion - and progress always occurs, therefore it occurs in our time - then there must be a religion of our time. So, whether the so-called educated people of our time like it or not, they must recognize the existence of religion, not the religion of a cult - Catholic, Protestant, etc., but religious consciousness, as a necessary leader of progress in our time. If there is a religious consciousness among us, then our art should be assessed on the basis of this religious consciousness; and in exactly the same way, and always and everywhere, art that conveys feelings arising from the religious consciousness of our time must be consciously, highly valued and encouraged, and art that is contrary to this consciousness must be condemned and despised, and not singled out and not All other indifferent art is encouraged.
The religious consciousness of our time, in its most general practical application, is the consciousness that our good, both material and spiritual, and individual and general, and temporary and eternal, lies in the fraternal life of all people, in our loving unity among ourselves. This consciousness is expressed not only by Christ and all the best people of the past, and is not only repeated in the most diverse forms and from the most diverse sides by the best people of our time, but also serves as the guiding thread of all the complex work of humanity, which consists, on the one hand, in the destruction of physical and moral barriers that prevent the unity of people, and, on the other hand, in establishing those principles common to all people that can and should unite people into one world brotherhood. On the basis of this consciousness, we must evaluate all the phenomena of our life and, among them, our art, singling out from its entire field that which conveys the feelings arising from this religious consciousness, highly appreciating and encouraging this art and denying that which is contrary this consciousness, and without attributing to the rest of art a meaning that is unusual for it.
The main mistake that people of the upper classes made during the so-called Renaissance - a mistake that we continue now - was not that they stopped appreciating and ascribing meaning to religious art (the people of that time could not attribute meaning to it because, just like the people of the upper classes of our time, they could not believe in what was considered by the majority to be religion), but that in place of this missing religious art they put insignificant art, aimed only at the pleasure of people, that is, they began to highlight , to value and encourage, as religious art, something that in no way deserved this appreciation and encouragement.
One church father said that the main grief of people is not that they do not know God, but that in the place of God they have put something that is not God. It's the same with art. The main misfortune of the people of the upper classes of our time is not yet that they do not have religious art, but that in place of the highest religious art, isolated from everything else, as especially important and valuable, they have singled out the most insignificant, mostly harmful art , which has as its goal the pleasure of some, and therefore, by its exclusivity alone, is already contrary to the Christian principle of universal unity, which constitutes the religious consciousness of our time. In place of religious art, empty and often depraved art has been placed, and this hides from people the need for that true religious art, which must be in life in order to improve it.
It is true that art that satisfies the requirements of the religious consciousness of our time is completely different from previous art, but, despite this dissimilarity, what constitutes the religious art of our time is very clear and definite for a person who does not deliberately hide the truth from himself. In former times, when the highest religious consciousness united only a certain, albeit very large, one among others, society of people: Jews, Athenians, Roman citizens, the feelings conveyed by the art of those times flowed from the desire for power, greatness, glory, prosperity of these societies, and the heroes of art could be people who contributed to this prosperity through force, deceit, cunning, and cruelty (Odysseus, Jacob, David, Samson, Hercules and all the heroes). The religious consciousness of our time does not single out any “one” society of people; on the contrary, it requires the unification of everyone, absolutely all people without exception, and above all other virtues it places brotherly love for all people, and therefore the feelings conveyed by the art of our time are not only cannot coincide with the feelings conveyed by previous art, but must be opposite to them.
Christian, truly Christian art could not be established for a long time and has not yet been established precisely because Christian religious consciousness was not one of those small steps by which humanity gradually advances, but was a huge revolution that, if not yet changed, then inevitably had to change everything people’s understanding of life and the entire internal structure of their lives. It is true that the life of humanity, like that of an individual, moves evenly, but among this uniform movement there are, as it were, turning points that sharply separate the previous life from the next. Christianity was such a turning point for humanity, at least that is how it should seem to us, living with a Christian consciousness. Christian consciousness gave a different, new direction to all the feelings of people and therefore completely changed both the content and meaning of art. The Greeks could use the art of the Persians and the Romans the art of the Greeks, just as the Jews could use the art of the Egyptians - the basic ideals were the same. The ideal was either the greatness and goodness of the Persians, or the greatness and goodness of the Greeks or Romans. The same art was transferred to other conditions and was suitable for new peoples. But the Christian ideal changed, turned everything upside down so that, as it is said in the Gospel: “what was great before people became an abomination before God.” The ideal was not the greatness of the pharaoh and the Roman emperor, not the beauty of the Greek or the wealth of Phenicia, but humility, chastity, compassion, love. It was not the rich man who became the hero, but the beggar Lazarus; Mary of Egypt not during her beauty, but during her repentance; not acquirers of wealth, but those who distributed it, living not in palaces, but in catacombs and huts, not people ruling over others, but people who do not recognize anyone’s authority except God. And the highest work of art is not the temple of victory with statues of the victors, but the image of the human soul, transformed by love so that the tortured and killed person pities and loves his tormentors.
And therefore it is difficult for the people of the Christian world to stop from the inertia of pagan art, with which they have grown together throughout their lives. The content of Christian religious art is so new to them, so unlike the content of previous art, that it seems to them that Christian art is a negation of art, and they desperately cling to the old art. Meanwhile, this old art, in our time no longer having a source in religious consciousness, has lost all its meaning, and we, willy-nilly, must abandon it.
The essence of Christian consciousness is the recognition by each person of his sonship to God and the resulting unity of people with God and among themselves, as stated in the Gospel (John XVII, 21), and therefore the content of Christian art is such feelings that promote the unity of people with God and among ourselves.
The expression: the unity of people with God and among themselves may seem unclear to people accustomed to hearing such frequent abuse of these words, and yet these words have a very clear meaning. These words mean that the Christian unity of people, as opposed to the partial, exclusive unity of only some people, is one that unites all people without exception.
Art, all art in itself, has the ability to connect people. What all art does is that people who perceive the feeling conveyed by the artist are united in soul, firstly, with the artist and, secondly, with all the people who received the same impression. But non-Christian art, connecting some people with each other, by this very connection separates them from other people, so that this particular connection often serves as a source not only of separation, but of hostility towards other people. Such is all patriotic art, with its hymns, poems, monuments; such is all church art, that is, the art of famous cults with their icons, statues, processions, services, temples; Such is the art of war, such is all refined art, actually depraved, accessible only to people who oppress other people, to people of the leisured, wealthy classes. Such art is backward art - not Christian, uniting some people only in order to separate them even more sharply from other people and even put them in a hostile attitude towards other people. Christian art is only that which unites all people without exception - either by the fact that it evokes in people the consciousness of the sameness of their position in relation to God and neighbor, or by the fact that it evokes in people the same feeling, although the simplest, but not contrary to Christianity and characteristic of all people without exception.
Christian good art of our time may not be understood by people due to a lack of its form or due to people's inattention to it, but it must be such that all people can experience the feelings that are conveyed to them. It should be the art of not one circle of people, not one class, not one nationality, not one religious cult, that is, it should not convey feelings that are accessible only to a well-educated person, or only to a nobleman, a merchant, or only to a Russian or Japanese , or a Catholic, or a Buddhist, etc., but feelings that are accessible to every person. Only such art can be recognized as good art in our time and be distinguished from all other art and encouraged.
Christian art, that is, the art of our time, must be catholic in the literal sense of the word, that is, universal, and therefore must unite all people. All people are united by only two kinds of feelings: feelings arising from the consciousness of sonship to God and the brotherhood of people, and the simplest feelings - everyday ones, but those that are accessible to all people without exception, such as feelings of fun, tenderness, cheerfulness, tranquility, etc. Only these two kinds of feelings constitute the subject matter of good art of our time.
And the effect produced by these two types of art that seem so different from each other is one and the same. Feelings arising from the consciousness of sonship to God and the brotherhood of man, such as feelings of firmness in the truth, devotion to the will of God, selflessness, respect for man and love for him, arising from the Christian religious consciousness, and the simplest feelings - a tender or cheerful mood from a song, or a funny joke that is understandable to all people, or a touching story, or a drawing, or a doll - produces the same effect - the loving unity of people. It happens that people, being together, are, if not hostile, then alien to each other in their moods and feelings, and suddenly either a story, or a performance, or a picture, even a building and most often music, like an electric spark, connects all these people, and all these people, instead of the previous fragmentation, often even hostility, feel unity and love for each other. Everyone rejoices that another experiences the same thing as he does, rejoices at the communication that has been established not only between him and all those present, but also between all people now living who will receive the same impression; Moreover, one feels the mysterious joy of afterlife communication with all the people of the past who experienced the same feeling, and the people of the future who will experience it. This is the effect that produces equally both that art that conveys feelings of love for God and neighbor, and everyday art that conveys the simplest feelings common to all people.
The main difference between the valuation of the art of our time and the previous one is that the art of our time, that is, Christian art, based on a religious consciousness that requires the unity of people, excludes from the realm of good art in content everything that conveys exceptional feelings that do not unite , and dividing people, classifying such art as art that is bad in content, but, on the contrary, includes in the area of art that is good in content a department that was not previously recognized as worthy of highlighting and respect for universal art, conveying even the most insignificant, simple feelings, but those that accessible to all people without exception and which therefore connects them.
Such art cannot but be recognized as good in our time because it achieves the very goal that the religious Christian consciousness of our time sets for humanity.
Christian art either evokes in people those feelings that, through love for God and neighbor, draw them to greater and greater unity, make them ready and capable of such unity, or it evokes in them those feelings that show them what they already united by the unity of the joys and sorrows of life. And therefore, Christian art of our time can be and is of two kinds: 1) art that conveys feelings arising from the religious consciousness of man’s position in the world, in relation to God and neighbor, religious art, and 2) art that conveys the simplest everyday feelings, those that are accessible to all people around the world - world art. Only these two types of art can be considered good art in our time.
The first type of religious art, conveying both positive feelings of love for God and neighbor, and negative ones - indignation, horror at the violation of love, manifests itself mainly in the form of words and partly in painting and sculpture; the second kind - universal art, conveying feelings accessible to everyone, is manifested in words, and in painting, and in sculpture, and in dancing, and in architecture, and mainly in music.
If I were asked to point to examples in the new art of each of these types of art, then as examples of the highest, resulting from the love of God and neighbor, religious art in the field of literature, I would point to Schiller’s “The Thieves”; of the newest - on "Les pauvres gens" by V. Hugo and his "Miserables" ["Poor People" by V. Hugo and his "Les Miserables" (French)], on the stories, short stories, novels of Dickens: "Tale of two cities" , "Chimes" ["A Tale of Two Cities", "Bells" (English)] etc., on "Uncle Tom's Cabin", on Dostoevsky, mainly his "House of the Dead", on "Adam Bede" by George Eliot.
In the painting of modern times, there are almost no works of this kind that directly convey Christian feelings of love for God and neighbor, strange as it may seem, there are almost no works, especially among famous painters. There are gospel paintings, and there are a lot of them, but they all convey a historical event with a great wealth of detail, but they do not and cannot convey that religious feeling that the authors do not have. There are many paintings depicting the personal feelings of various people, but there are very few paintings that convey feats of self-sacrifice and Christian love, and then mainly among little-known painters and not in finished paintings, but most often in drawings. This is Kramskoy’s drawing, worth many of his paintings, depicting a living room with a balcony, past which returning troops solemnly pass. On the balcony there is a nurse with a child and a boy. They admire the procession of troops. And the mother, covering her face with a scarf, sobbed, fell to the back of the sofa. This is the same picture of Langley that I mentioned; The same is the picture depicting a rescue boat in a strong storm, rushing to the rescue of a dying steamship, by the French painter Morlon. There are still paintings approaching this type, depicting the working toiler with respect and love. Such are Millet’s paintings, especially his drawing of a resting digger; in the same kind of paintings by Jules Breton, Lhermitte, Defregger and others. Examples in the field of painting of works that evoke indignation, horror at the violation of love for God and neighbor, can be the painting by Ge - the court, the painting by Liezen Mayer - the signature of the death sentence. There are very few paintings of this kind. Concerns about technology and beauty for the most part obscure the feeling. So, for example, the painting “Pollice verso” [Here: “Finish him off” (Latin)] by Jerome does not so much express a feeling of horror at what is happening, as a passion for beauty spectacles.
It is even more difficult to point out in the new art of the upper classes examples of the second kind, good universal everyday art, especially in verbal art and music. If there are works that, in terms of their internal content, like “Don Quixote,” Moliere’s comedies, like Dickens’ “Copperfield” and “The Pickwick Club,” the stories of Gogol, Pushkin or some of Maupassant’s works, could be classified as this kind, then these things and by the exclusivity of the feelings conveyed, and by the excess of special details of time and place, and, most importantly, by the poverty of the content, in comparison with examples of the world's ancient art, such as, for example, the story of Joseph the Beautiful, for the most part they are accessible only to people of their own people and even their own circle. The fact that Joseph's brothers, jealous of his father, sold him to merchants; the fact that Pentefri's wife wants to seduce the young man, that the young man achieves a higher position, feels sorry for his brothers, his beloved Benjamin and everything else - all these are feelings accessible to the Russian peasant, and the Chinese, and the African, and the child, and the old, and the educated, and uneducated; and all this is written so restrainedly, without unnecessary details, that the story can be transferred to any other environment you want, and it will be just as understandable and touching for everyone. But these are not the feelings of Don Quixote or the heroes of Moliere (although Moliere is perhaps the most popular and therefore wonderful artist of the new art), and especially not the feelings of Pickwick and his friends. These feelings are very exceptional, not universal, and therefore, in order to make them contagious, the authors furnished them with abundant details of time and place. The abundance of these details makes these stories even more exceptional, incomprehensible to all people living outside the environment that the author describes.
In the story about Joseph there was no need to describe in detail, as they do now, Joseph’s bloody clothes, and Jacob’s home and clothes, and the pose and outfit of Pentephry’s wife, how she, adjusting the bracelet on her left hand, said: “Come to me,” and etc., because the content of feeling in this story is so strong that all the details, excluding the most necessary ones, such as, for example, the fact that Joseph went into another room to cry - that all these details are unnecessary and would only get in the way convey a feeling, and therefore this story is accessible to all people, touches people of all nations, classes, ages, has reached us and will live for thousands of years. But take away the details from the best novels of our time, and what remains?
So in the new verbal art it is impossible to point to works that fully satisfy the requirements of universality. Even those that exist are spoiled for the most part by what is called realism, which is more accurately called provincialism in art.