Really smart and accessible philosophy about art and its power in the past and present. I really enjoyed reading this book.

Partly an introduction to some of history’s more insidious artworks and artists, but mostly a guidebook to the elements of what may—or may not—be depraved art. Dixon guides the reader through a framework she proposes to engage with and evaluate art, artists, and their impact, including obscenity, criminality, oppression, malevolence, cruelty, iconoclasm and reparation. What makes one work “challenging” and another work “disgusting?” And how do we decide what to do about it?

Each section is thoughtfully presented with examples and thought experiments to inspire the readers’ own thinking and continues with a discussion on the questions brought up by those examples. Dixon also does an admirable job of addressing the counterpoint to her own views. The writing is clear, the voice is accessible to university students, arts aficionados, and adult readers curious about art and its cultural and political difficulties.

All in all, I recommend this title and will likely add it to our university library's popular reading collection when it publishes. The one thing I suggest is an appendix with a range of clear, cogent questions to guide the reader in evaluating a work of art or artist for themselves. These questions are baked into the book, but I think many people would like to have a suggested framework ready for when they need to come to their own conclusions on a work of art or an artist in their own cultural world. This would be a value-add for me.

4.75/5

PLEASE read this instead of Claire Dederer's Monsters!

I really liked that this is from the perspective of a philosopher, I think that made such a big difference in this conversation. This was more about the impact of art and the artist than the popularization of it. And I think that's where the artsy people get it wrong (just because a piece is famous or looks nice, doesn't erase the harm behind it).

This discusses the unsavory sides of art, artists, and how these pieces are interpreted.

This shows how we can't and shouldn't separate the art from the artists.

I do wish it had some pictures of the art it was referencing, but that's a personal reading experience thing. I like to see what we're talking about.

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.