Vision and Design

Tolstoy's famous essay asks what art is and what it is for. His answer, that true art transmits feeling from one person to another, is still one of the most debated ideas in aesthetics.

Leo Tolstoy

Kandinsky's manifesto on abstraction and the inner life of art. He explains how color and form speak directly to the soul, in the book that opened the door to abstract painting.

Wassily Kandinsky

The essay that introduced the idea of significant form: what moves us in a painting is the arrangement of lines and colors, not the story it tells. A key text of modern art criticism.

Clive Bell

Essays on how artists, performers and teachers use writing to create, reflect and critique their work. Useful for anyone writing art criticism, artist statements or academic papers on the visual and performing arts.

Various Authors