Blog Prompt 12

I chose the song ‘strange fruit’ by Nina Simone to represent what art is to me.This song is very powerful as it talks about the lynchings happening in the United States during the early 1900s. Although the subject matter in the song is powerful enough to move someone on its own, the power in her voice makes this song infectious. Her voice alone tells a story of resiliency and pain. The first time I listened to this song I could feel my eyes getting teary eyed because in that moment I could feel the pain that she poured into that song as if I had experienced the pain myself. I think my example matches what Tolstoy would consider to be art because the song brings out emotions through Nina Simone’s voice. Her voice is her instrument that she uses to create art, her music is her art and I think it wasn’t until I heard this song that I felt how a voice could be so moving. Tolstoy said, “Art is a human activity consisting in this, that one man consciously, by means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings and also experience them.” I agree that art should move people and become infectious to a certain degree but I also believe that if your art doesn’t move someone that doesn’t make it completely bad. To me art is essentially just a form of expression and because every person is complex and unique this creates room for almost every possibility. Tolstoy makes a very good point when he says art is supposed to solely be infectious and this is how you can measure the greatness of it however this can be problematic. The three conditions on whether your art is infectious consist of the individuality of the emotion being transmitted, clarity of the emotion, and the sincerity of the artist. To me it is hard to measure the greatness of someone’s work just because how can I tell someone else if their art is good or not. I think my character plays into this a lot because I am someone who is very inclusive and I like to understand all spectrums, so when it comes to art I feel the same way. The song ‘Strange Fruit’ however passes Tolstoy’s test of what makes something art according to his three conditions. So in fact this test is a great way of proving the validity of someone’s art but for me it still has to remain objective. Tolstoy’s test can seem subjective and that would be the only reason for it not being very effective. The song by Nina Simone is just one of those songs that touch the heart because it’s real. I think this is a subtle point that is very big because if you’re just real and true to yourself I think the art will speak for itself. No matter what it is, people will be able to recognize the beauty in it and I think that is the real take away when it comes to the greatness of someone’s art. The beauty in art is that the scale is so broad, meaning that you can see just about everything when it comes to art so that naturally creates an inclusive atmosphere. Overall I think Tolstoy made great points in his argument but I still feel like art needs to have a broad scale and therefore does not fit into a box.