A topic within Aesthetics, itself one of 10 topics in that field and part of Philosophy.
2 works
Oscar Wilde
Argues, in the form of a dialogue, that art does not imitate life but the reverse, and that art's obligation is to beauty and artifice rather than to moral usefulness or literal truth.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Leo Tolstoy
Art's value lies entirely in how effectively it transmits a genuine feeling from the artist to the audience, which leads Tolstoy to dismiss most of the celebrated art of his own time, including much of his own fiction, as fraudulent.
about 5.5 hours to readlink checked 17 Sept 2026