Can you love art, but dislike the artist? In the past few years so many artists have fallen from grace, been exposed for their ill deeds, or expressed contemptible views. For fans of their work, it can be difficult to know what to do when something they love is tainted by the actions of the person who created it.
Dederer's roll call of problematic artists includes Roman Polanski, Bill Crosby, Woody Allen, Pablo Picasso, Sid Vicious, Norman Mailer, Miles Davis, Johnny Depp, Caravaggio, Ernest Hemingway, Michael Jackson, Phil Spector, and more. To this you can add Will Smith, Kevin Spacey and on and on. These artists have been convicted of crimes, accused of heinous acts, are misogynists or racists, or are garden variety creepers. Are some of the artists geniuses precisely because of their ill behaviour? Perhaps.
In her book Dederer shows how she is trying to experiment with different ways of looking at art. As a cultural critic, she cannot view art in the same way as her male colleagues. In one chapter she looks at Woody Allen's acclaimed film Manhattan in which Allen's character dates a high school student. For Dederer this is problematic, made more so by Allen's later real-life actions of leaving his partner for his teenage step-daughter and allegations of abuse by his adopted daughter. Dederer's male colleagues say she should ignore this, and just appreciate the film as a work of art. But can she? Should we?
Dederer also looks at Virginia Woolf, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Willa Cather - authors who made anti-semitic or racist comments in their work - and Doris Lessing who abandoned her children to have a career. I found the chapter on female monsters fascinating, as it always boils down to women failing as mothers when putting their art above their family - which many male artists do but is not viewed as irregular.
What I liked about Dederer's book is that she is working out loud. She is grappling with the concerns of consuming art with or without a moral lens. She asks whether some artists can be given a pass, or whether the failings of artists should be seen in the context of their time. She also points out that in modern times we know more about the artists behind the work than in previous generations where their work can be enjoyed in isolation. I also liked that Dederer didn't solve the problem. She is against cancel culture. She calls for consumers of art to be wise and to challenge their own assumptions. Dederer challenges her reader to think and be open to wallowing in the messiness. Whether you agree with Dederer or not, this is a thought-provoking book.