The essay _On Art_ that follows was the last attempt Tolstoy made, after many years’ reflection, to express his views on art, before he wrote _What is Art?_ This essay (_On Art_) did not satisfy him, but in several respects it drew very near to what he was finally to say. What he had not arrived at when he wrote it was (1) the clear-cut working definition of art which he gives in his later work, and (2) the clear perception of the importance and necessity of appraising separately the _form_ of a work of art, which makes it infectious, and the _subject-matter of feeling_ which connects it with the whole of life, and which benefits or harms mankind.

One feels, in _On Art_, that Tolstoy is still treading warily a path he has not fully explored; it was only later--in _What is Art?_--that he let himself go, careless of the eggs he broke and feelings he disturbed, and asserting his convictions with emphasis and exuberance.

ON ART:

What is and What is not Art; And When is Art Important and When is it Trivial?