{"product_id":"what-is-art-by-leo-tolstoy-9780140446425","title":"What is Art?","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTolstoy's\u003c\/em\u003e controversial treatise on the purpose of Art\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDuring his decades of world fame as a novelist, Tolstoy also wrote prolifically in a series of essays and polemics on issues of morality, social justice and religion. These works culminated in \u003cem\u003eWhat is Art?\u003c\/em\u003e, published in 1898.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eImpassioned and iconoclastic, this powerfully influential work both criticises the elitist nature of art in nineteenth-century Western society and rejects the idea that its sole purpose should be the creation of beauty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe works of Dante, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Baudelaire, and Wagner are all vigorously condemned, as Tolstoy explores what he believes to be the spiritual role of the artist—arguing that true art must work with religion and science as a force for the advancement of mankind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46486937501932,"sku":"9780140446425","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780140446425.jpg?v=1748337317","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/products\/what-is-art-by-leo-tolstoy-9780140446425","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}