28Februaryфевраля · 28-е февраля
Искусство есть одно из средств единения людей.
Art is one of the means of uniting people.
1. Если изящные искусства не проникнуты общими всему человечеству нравственными идеями, которые одни только и соединяют людей, то такие искусства служат только развлечением, в котором люди чувствуют тем большую потребность, чем больше к нему прибегают, чтобы заглушить недовольство самими собою; но этим они делают себя постоянно еще бесполезнее и еще недовольнее.
1. If the fine arts are not imbued with the moral ideas common to all humanity, which alone unite people, then such arts serve only as a diversion, for which people feel all the greater need the more they resort to it to drown their discontent with themselves; but by this they make themselves ever more useless and ever more discontented.
Kant.
From Kritik der Urteilskraft · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedKant’s “moral Ideas, which alone bring with them a self-sufficing satisfaction” become “the moral ideas common to all humanity, which alone unite people,” as in What Is Art?; “brought into combination with” becomes “imbued with.”
Original · GermanWenn die schönen Künste nicht, nahe oder fern, mit moralischen Ideen in Verbindung gebracht werden, die allein ein selbständiges Wohlgefallen bei sich führen, so ist das letztere ihr endliches Schicksal.
Sie dienen alsdann nur zur Zerstreuung, deren man desto mehr bedürftig wird, als man sich ihrer bedient, um die Unzufriedenheit des Gemüts mit sich selbst dadurch zu vertreiben, daß man sich immer noch unnützlicher und mit sich selbst unzufriedener macht.
Source text: archive.orgIn English · J. H. Bernard, 1892If the beautiful arts are not brought into more or less close combination with moral Ideas, which alone bring with them a self-sufficing satisfaction, this latter fate must ultimately be theirs. They then serve only as a distraction, of which we are the more in need the more we avail ourselves of them to disperse the discontent of the mind with itself; so that we thus render ourselves ever more useless and ever more discontented.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Kritik der Urteilskraft (1790), § 52, as excerpted in Raoul Richter, Kant-Aussprüche (1901), Kant-Aussprüche no. 187; Richter's register: Kr. d. U., Hartenstein V, 336.
Changed to fit Tolstoy's own theory of art (What Is Art?, 1898). Kant's "moral ideas, which alone carry with them a self-sufficient satisfaction" (moralischen Ideen ..., die allein ein selbständiges Wohlgefallen bei sich führen) becomes «общими всему человечеству нравственными идеями, которые одни только и соединяют людей» (moral ideas common to all mankind, which alone unite people). "Brought, near or far, into connection with" becomes «не проникнуты» (not imbued with), and "this is their final fate" is left out. The second sentence (art as mere distraction, needed the more it is used to drive off discontent with oneself) follows Kant. Bernard's English is cited from his 2nd ed. (1914).
2. Можно допустить, что искусство умрет, но немыслимо, чтобы искусство могло жить, раболепствуя перед богатством и глумясь над бедностью.
2. One may grant that art will die, but it is unthinkable that art could live while groveling before wealth and mocking poverty.
From Hopes and Fears for Art · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changedArt as “the token of the enduring slavery of the poor” becomes art “mocking poverty.”
Morris’s own words… it may be she will die, but it cannot be that she will live the slave of the rich, and the token of the enduring slavery of the poor.
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. Hopes and Fears for Art (1882), lecture 'Making the Best of It' (Gutenberg text of the 1919 Longmans printing), Near the end of the lecture.
The first half is close: 'it may be she will die, but it cannot be that she will live the slave of the rich'. The second changes: 'the token of the enduring slavery of the poor' becomes «глумясь над бедностью» (mocking poverty), so art as the sign of the poor's slavery becomes art's contempt for them.
3. Искусство есть одно из самых могущественнейших средств внушения. А так как внушено может быть и порочное (и порочное всегда легче внушается) и хорошее, то ни перед какими способами внушения не надо быть больше настороже, как перед внушением искусства.
3. Art is one of the most powerful of all means of suggestion. And since what can be instilled by suggestion is both the vicious (and the vicious is always instilled more easily) and the good, there is no means of suggestion against which we need be more on our guard than against the suggestion of art.
4. Чем меньше в религиозном учении влияния внушения, тем оно выше, и наоборот.
4. The less the influence of suggestion in a religious teaching, the higher that teaching is, and vice versa.
5. Достоинство искусства и достоинство науки — в бескорыстном служении на пользу людей.
5. The worth of art and the worth of science lie in disinterested service for the benefit of people.
From The Eagle's Nest · reworded by Tolstoy .
What changed“The wisdom of art and the wisdom of science” become “the worth of art and the worth of science.” †
† An intermediate translation may have made this change.
John Ruskin’s own wordsI stated, in the first two, that the wisdom of art and the wisdom of science consisted in their being each devoted unselfishly to the service of men; …
Source text: gutenberg.orgDetails
The words shown were found, word for word, in the saved source text. The Eagle's Nest (1872), Lecture IX 'The Story of the Halcyon', Lecture IX, §172, recapitulating the first two lectures.
Ruskin's 'the wisdom of art and the wisdom of science' becomes 'the dignity of art and the dignity of science' (достоинство); 'devoted unselfishly to the service of men' is kept. Whether 'wisdom' became 'dignity' in Tolstoy's hands or in Nikiforov's Russian, which he probably read, is not known. No printable.
Translation note. The Jubilee text breaks the italics at the dash; the English sets the line as one.
6. Художник — одно из двух: или первосвященник или более или менее ловкий скоморох.
6. The artist is one of two things: either a high priest or a more or less skillful buffoon.
Source not found yet .
Not found yet.
Passage not found in the saved texts or by web search.
Searched: Ricordi ed. Dobelli 1870 ("Agli artisti ed ai letterati"), Life and Writings vol. VI; searched sacerdote/giullare/priest/buffoon.
Translation note. «Скоморох» is the strolling minstrel and jester of old Russia; here “buffoon”.
7. Искусство только тогда на надлежащем своем месте, когда цель его — нравственное совершенствование. Задача искусства — поучать любовно. Если же искусство не помогает людям открывать истину, а только доставляет приятное времяпрепровождение, то оно является постыдным, а не возвышенным делом.
7. Art is in its proper place only when its aim is moral perfecting. The task of art is to teach lovingly. But if art does not help people discover truth, and only provides a pleasant pastime, then it is a shameful pursuit, not an exalted one.
Source not found yet .
Tolstoy’s own version · Мысли мудрых людей на каждый деньИскусство тогда только на надлежащем своем месте, когда оно подчинено пользе. Его задача — поучать, но поучать любовно; и оно является постыдным, а не возвышенным, когда бывает только приятно людям, а не помогает им открывать истину.
Source text: tolstoy.ruDetails
Not found yet.
The English was not found. The 1903 version (31 January) reads 'when it is subordinate to use' (когда оно подчинено пользе), which the Circle changes to 'when its aim is moral perfection'. Close in thought to Lectures on Art IV §98 ('it exists rightly only when it is the means of knowledge, or the grace of agency for life'), whose wording does not match.
Searched: Every saved Ruskin text (Modern Painters I–V, Stones of Venice I–III, Lectures on Art, Eagle's Nest, Queen of the Air, Two Paths, Sesame and Lilies, Crown of Wild Olive, Ethics of the Dust, Fors IV–V, Unto This Last and Political Economy of Art, Frondes Agrestes) and 32 more Gutenberg Ruskin works (Seven Lamps, Aratra Pentelici, Time and Tide, Fors I–III and VI, On the Old Road, Arrows of the Chace, Val d'Arno, Lectures on Landscape, Ariadne Florentina, Our Fathers Have Told Us and others) for 'lovingly', 'teach'+'please', 'right place', 'subordinate to use'; archive.org full-text search for those phrases. Munera Pulveris, Laws of Fésole, St Mark's Rest, and Fors VII–VIII were not searched.
8. Наше искусство, поставившее себе целью поставку потех для богатых классов, не только похоже на проституцию, но есть не что иное, как проституция.
8. Our art, which has set itself the aim of supplying amusements for the rich classes, not only resembles prostitution, but is nothing other than prostitution.
Рассуждения об искусстве — самые праздные рассуждения. Тот, кто понимает искусство, знает, что каждое искусство говорит своим особенным языком и что говорить об искусстве словами — бесполезно. Оттого и бывает то, что больше всего говорят об искусстве те, которые не понимают, не чувствуют его.
Discussions about art are the idlest of discussions. Whoever understands art knows that each art speaks its own particular language, and that to talk about art in words is useless. That is why it happens that those who talk most about art are those who do not understand it, who do not feel it.
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