Criticism

When discussing Tolstoy in class, we came across the issue of the role of the critic in Tolstoy's theorem. We came to the conclusion that the stereotypical critic usually acts as a hinderance on artists, because they criticize without giving any constructive input, and therefore, critics merely bash the self esteem of the artist who put all his or her emotion into their peice to convey a certain message.I feel that the definition of a critic should include giving constructive advice on how to better convey the message in the piece. That is after all the point of art, is to convey an emotional meaning in a visual way, according to Tolstoy.