Drawing the Line
What to Do with the Work of Immoral Artists from Museums to the Movies
Published on 25. March 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
184 pages
978-0-19-779812-6 (ISBN)
Description
Can we still watch Woody Allen's movies? Can we still laugh at Bill Cosby's jokes?
Woody Allen, Kevin Spacey, Dave Chappelle, Louis C. K., J.K. Rowling, Michael Jackson, Roseanne Barr. Recent years have proven rife with revelations about the misdeeds, objectional views, and, in some instances, crimes of popular artists. Spurred in part by the #metoo movement, and given more access than ever thanks to social media and the internet in general, the public has turned an alert and critical eye upon the once-hidden lives of previously cherished entertainers. But what should we members of the public do, think, and feel in response to these artists' actions or statements? It's a predicament that many of us face: whether it's possible to disentangle the deeply unsettled feelings we have toward an artist from how we respond to the art they produced. As consumers of art, and especially as fans, we have a host of tricky moral question to navigate: do the moral lives of artists affect the aesthetic quality of their work? Is it morally permissible for us to engage with or enjoy that work? Should immoral artists and their work be "canceled"? Most of all, can we separate an artist from their art?
In Drawing the Line, Erich Hatala Matthes employs the tools of philosophy to offer insight and clarity to the ethical questions that dog us. He argues that it doesn't matter whether we can separate the art from the artist, because we shouldn't. While some dismiss the lives of artists as if they are irrelevant to the artist's work, and others instrumentalize artwork, treating it as nothing more than a political tool, Matthes argues both that the lives of artists can play an important role in shaping our moral and aesthetic relationship to the artworks that we love and that these same artworks offer us powerful resources for grappling with the immorality of their creators. Rather than shunning art made by those who have been canceled, shamed, called out, or even arrested, we should engage with it all the more thoughtfully and learn from the complexity it forces us to confront. Recognizing the moral and aesthetic relationships between art and artist is crucial to determining when and where we should draw the line when good artists do bad things.
Woody Allen, Kevin Spacey, Dave Chappelle, Louis C. K., J.K. Rowling, Michael Jackson, Roseanne Barr. Recent years have proven rife with revelations about the misdeeds, objectional views, and, in some instances, crimes of popular artists. Spurred in part by the #metoo movement, and given more access than ever thanks to social media and the internet in general, the public has turned an alert and critical eye upon the once-hidden lives of previously cherished entertainers. But what should we members of the public do, think, and feel in response to these artists' actions or statements? It's a predicament that many of us face: whether it's possible to disentangle the deeply unsettled feelings we have toward an artist from how we respond to the art they produced. As consumers of art, and especially as fans, we have a host of tricky moral question to navigate: do the moral lives of artists affect the aesthetic quality of their work? Is it morally permissible for us to engage with or enjoy that work? Should immoral artists and their work be "canceled"? Most of all, can we separate an artist from their art?
In Drawing the Line, Erich Hatala Matthes employs the tools of philosophy to offer insight and clarity to the ethical questions that dog us. He argues that it doesn't matter whether we can separate the art from the artist, because we shouldn't. While some dismiss the lives of artists as if they are irrelevant to the artist's work, and others instrumentalize artwork, treating it as nothing more than a political tool, Matthes argues both that the lives of artists can play an important role in shaping our moral and aesthetic relationship to the artworks that we love and that these same artworks offer us powerful resources for grappling with the immorality of their creators. Rather than shunning art made by those who have been canceled, shamed, called out, or even arrested, we should engage with it all the more thoughtfully and learn from the complexity it forces us to confront. Recognizing the moral and aesthetic relationships between art and artist is crucial to determining when and where we should draw the line when good artists do bad things.
Reviews / Votes
Engaging, personal and limpid, the book is a delight to read. Matthes proves himself to be not only a clear communicator of sometimes intricate ideas, but a deft one too. The text ripples with vivid examples, offbeat quips, instructive metaphors and personal reflections, which animate the problems it covers...The book is a gourmet hamburger: rich, yet down-to-earth, and unlikely to benefit from my unsolicited garnish of saffron and truffle oil. I encourage anyone vexed by immoral artists to tuck in. * Analysis * Matthes argues that we can recognize that a work of art has been worsened by the immorality of its creator, even to the point that we can no longer personally enjoy it, while accepting that others can still find it appealing. * Andy Lamey, Toronto Star * Hatala Matthes is thorough, nuanced and thoughtful throughouta Drawing the Line is a clear, lively exploration of an extremely important issue. It doesnat aim to be definitive, but it left me wanting more. It also made me want to sit down with a glass of wine and re-watch Love and Death. * Christina Patterson, Sunday Times * Erich Hatala Matthes's Drawing the Line offers guidance on the current 'cancel culture' controversies: how should we assess artworks by flawed human beings like Gauguin, J.K. Rowling, Woody Allen, and others? Matthes's nuanced advice is that we should separate the artist from the art and distinguish private from public reactions, while accepting that we may remain emotionally conflicted about works that we particularly treasure. Drawing the Line is anengaging and conversational book that offers plain-spoken insights drawn from the best recent work in aesthetics and moral theory. * Cynthia Freeland, University of Houston * Erich Hatala Matthes' wonderful book is both beautifully clear and at the same time quite subtle. Matthes goes beyond public hand-wringing over 'cancel culture' and 'no-platforming' to dive into more difficult (and ultimately more interesting) problems, including the nature of complicity, artistic value, moral responsibility, trust and betrayal, and much more. This short book goes a long way towards making the case that it is important to think carefully about morality, art, and artists. * James Harold, Philosophy, Mount Holyoke College, author of Dangerous Art: On Moral Judgments of Artworks * In Drawing the Line Erich Matthes takes us on a vivid and fun journey through the fascinating and thorny issues at the intersection of aesthetics and morality: Is it ok to laugh at offensive jokes? Is it wrong to enjoy the works of immoral artists? Drawing the Line illustrates how easy it is to get confused about these issues and helps us make up our minds. In doing so, it embodies the power of good philosophy to be culturally relevant and confirms the necessity of clear and detailed thinking on matters of cultural urgency. It is free of pointless jargon, full of instructive examples, and Matthes's expertise in both moral philosophy and aesthetics really shines. * Nick Riggle, Associate Professor the University of San Diego and author of On Being Awesome: A Unified Theory of How Not to Suck * Is it OK to still enjoy the works of problematic artists? Should we boycott them? Should we cancel them? And what the hell does 'canceling' mean, anyway? Erich Matthes' Drawing the Line is a wonderfully accessible, entertaining, and deep response to these questions. It is the opposite of a hot take. Where the cultural discourse tends to hand-wave and mush together a hundred different issues, Matthes offers us nuance and care. Drawing the Line shows how many really distinctive issues are in play. It disentangles them for us, and shows how incredibly different and complicated the answers can get. And it actually does real work to help us figure out how to navigate our way through the mess. * C. Thi Nguyen, University of Utah * In his approachable integration of aesthetic and ethical principles with real-world examples, Matthes feels like a friend talking you through different angles on a problem that's been bothering you for years." Nandini Pandey, Los Angeles Review of BooksMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 179 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
168 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-779812-6 (9780197798126)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Erich Hatala Matthes is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department and Advisory Faculty for Environmental Studies at Wellesley College. His second book is What to Save and Why: Identity, Authenticity, and the Ethics of Conservation(Oxford, 2024).
Content
Introduction
Chapter 1 - Do Immoral Artists Make Worse Art?
Chapter 2 - Is It Wrong to Enjoy the Work of Immoral Artists?
Chapter 3 - Should Immoral Artists Be Canceled?
Chapter 4 - How Should We Feel about Immoral Artists?
Conclusion
Chapter 1 - Do Immoral Artists Make Worse Art?
Chapter 2 - Is It Wrong to Enjoy the Work of Immoral Artists?
Chapter 3 - Should Immoral Artists Be Canceled?
Chapter 4 - How Should We Feel about Immoral Artists?
Conclusion