So agree with this (and that Tolstoy, esp in later years, had some crackers ideas). I v much like Jonathan Rose's book on the intellectual life of the British working classes which exactly shows how the "uneducated" had massive appreciation of "high" culture. The question of reproduction of art works, of which Hay Wains on biscuit tins is a great example, is a slightly different and equally fascinating one - see Walter Benjamin's great essay on the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction, where he talks about the loss of the "aura" that the original has.
One of the most popular works of art in 20th century Britain was The Hay Wain, by John Constable; framed prints, prints on plates, biscuit tins, trays, trinket boxes, it could be found in thousands of homes up and down the country. Was this a "contagion" ? Or, like a picture of a loved relative, was it a work of art in memory of a beautiful aspect of the past, which people wanted to hold onto in the different, modern present ?
Tolstoy's contagion idea is a bit like Jung's collective unconscious, perhaps it's the same thing, but, where The Hay Wain is concerned anyway, that seems to me to leave out all those individual's feelings and attachment to their dreams and experience of the countryside, which The Hay Wain might have exemplified for them during the 20th century.
I do not think high art is only for the wealthy and well educated. Ordinary people enjoyed Shakespeare, Dickens, and others before the tv began to have its effect. During WWII Myra Hess played Bach for free to packed out audiences of soldiers and ordinary Londoners.
Tolstoy is one of my favourite writers, but he did have some funny ideas I think.
So agree with this (and that Tolstoy, esp in later years, had some crackers ideas). I v much like Jonathan Rose's book on the intellectual life of the British working classes which exactly shows how the "uneducated" had massive appreciation of "high" culture. The question of reproduction of art works, of which Hay Wains on biscuit tins is a great example, is a slightly different and equally fascinating one - see Walter Benjamin's great essay on the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction, where he talks about the loss of the "aura" that the original has.
Thanks for the reminder about Jonathan Rose's book, I had heard of it but not read it, I've just bought one from abe.
Benjamin’s oeuvre needs re-rediscovering. The amazingly heterogenous & fascinating ‘Arcades Project’, in particular.
Interesting post, thank you.
One of the most popular works of art in 20th century Britain was The Hay Wain, by John Constable; framed prints, prints on plates, biscuit tins, trays, trinket boxes, it could be found in thousands of homes up and down the country. Was this a "contagion" ? Or, like a picture of a loved relative, was it a work of art in memory of a beautiful aspect of the past, which people wanted to hold onto in the different, modern present ?
Tolstoy's contagion idea is a bit like Jung's collective unconscious, perhaps it's the same thing, but, where The Hay Wain is concerned anyway, that seems to me to leave out all those individual's feelings and attachment to their dreams and experience of the countryside, which The Hay Wain might have exemplified for them during the 20th century.
I do not think high art is only for the wealthy and well educated. Ordinary people enjoyed Shakespeare, Dickens, and others before the tv began to have its effect. During WWII Myra Hess played Bach for free to packed out audiences of soldiers and ordinary Londoners.
Tolstoy is one of my favourite writers, but he did have some funny ideas I think.