Did art just become politically correct ?
One thing to call for the punishment of men who may have committed despicable acts, and quite another to condemn their art to oblivion. There have long been moral monsters among artists, much as we don’t like to think about it.
Artists have often used and abused their wives, lovers and models. They have murdered and betrayed. and yet they have produced art that audiences have found inspiring and thought-provoking, often beautiful, sometimes sublime. Would that villains were only capable of villainy? Is it an inconvenient time to take a step back and think more carefully about the consequences of this purge on the culture at large?
Many may say that, in the middle of a revolution, as we bring down abusive powerful men, we cannot afford to dwell on ambiguities. But, if that is true, it also means that we don’t need art – because the very essence of art (as opposed to political propaganda) - is to do just that.
To remove art because it is tainted by the sins of its maker sets an impossible standard for art institutions, a standard that would demand they act as enforcers of moral orthodoxy. The work of every artist whose life was morally tainted by today’s standards would be approached only through the lens of that taint – and, if they fail the test, their work would need to be removed. No more marveling at Caravaggio’s lovely and sensual young models and, to add to his sins, he was also, probably, a murderer. No more Picasso, who lived up to his infamous slogan “Women are machines for suffering”; no more of the tortured expressionism of Egon Schiele who was accused of sexually abusing his teen models; and so many more. Museums will need more space in storage than in galleries.
As the revolutionary narrative goes, the newly bare walls would be filled by the work of those who have never found their proper space in powerful art institutions: women, people of color, artists that are transgender or gay… unless they are Caravaggio? Individuals, must face the consequences of their behavior. But if the art they have made transcends the squalor of their misdeeds, it should remain accessible.
In these politically polarized times, we need to value art institutions as places where we can think about complexity – including about how artists of such creative gifts can be such awful human beings - rather than treat them as churches obligated to issue judgments about who merits salvation and who doesn’t.
