Degas and Controversy

     In recent years, different artists have had their worked questioned due to their behavior in their personal lives. Unfortunately, some of them were quite awful, and the choice to not enjoy their art is an easy one. Others, it can be a difficult question whether or not they break the moral threshold of bad person. Still, their poor deeds and behaviors might weigh a toll on the mind of the average viewer. Some large names in art have been the focus of these debates like Edgar Degas, who has recently had his integrity come into question. But, should his art be disregarded as a whole due to his unfortunate beliefs in the 1800's? Should we just disregard problematic works? Or should we ignore it all together? These questions are difficult ones, but this article will attempt to weigh the merits of each. 

     We ought to begin with what makes Degas controversial in the first place. First are the allegations of antisemitism, which are more factual than alleged. Degas was raised in France during a time of European history when Jewish minorities were treated quite poorly. The ability to document that antisemitism exploded after the Dreyfus Affair, in which a French Calvary officer was convicted of treason and sentenced to live out his days in a penal colony in Guiana. Alfred Dreyfus was a man of Jewish descent from the Alsace region of France. It was alleged that he sold military secrets to the Germans, who controlled Alsace-Lorraine at the time of the trial. When Germany took the region, many Jewish people fled to the interior of France (1). After Alfred Dreyfus was falsely convicted of selling secrets to the Germans, a wave of antisemitism was directed towards the Jewish people in France. Degas was one of the Frenchmen who cut all ties to the Jewish community in his area and expressed the idea that Jewish People should be kept in Ghettos and camps. There is also documentation of him berating a Jewish dancer in his studio and screamed "You are Jewish" at her repeatedly (2). 

    Degas has also been criticized by feminist groups over the way he depicted women in his art. He often captures vulnerable moments and it seems that his art leans more towards objectivization. Degas himself once said that his artworks were meant to be seen "...as if you looked through the keyhole." Objectivization is the claim that most feminist critiques make against him, and his own words reveal a problematic viewpoint (3). 

  

     Degas does not make a great case for himself and partakes in a number of difficult to reconcile ideas. His treatment of Jewish people and artists was polarizing in his own time, and ruined relationships of his. His treatment of women is completely unacceptable today and if perpetrated today would draw rightful ire. Should we disregard his art because of these reasons? An article from the Atlantic advises viewers that they can separate the art from the artist, but goes on to debate itself on if certain works are problematic or not while knowing that the artist did terrible things (4). If you must go through the mental gymnastics of whether an artist was projecting their personal beliefs onto their work it might just be emblematic of the fact that art is  an extension of the artist, and their personal viewpoints and beliefs are what makes it unique. In the case of problematic artists, it is almost certain that their beliefs influenced their art making the art itself a an extension of that. Degas is no different, and perhaps we ought not to consider his work when discussing great impressionists. 

    A minor side note, I am deciding not to include an image of Degas' work in this post. It seems contradictory considering where my argument took me, instead, here is an artist a lesser known female impressionist from the same time period. Her name is Berthe Morisot and she covered many similar subjects as Degas, but from an entirely different lens. 

Woman at Her Toilette, Berth Morisot, 1875/80.

1. https://colostate.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01COLSU_INST/b339hu/cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_202819746

2. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/degas-and-the-dreyfus-affair 

3. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2004/oct/30/1#:~:text=%22Hitherto%20the%20nude%20has%20always,you%20looked%20through%20the%20keyhole. 

4. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/05/separate-art-from-artist-cancel-culture-monsters-book/673497/ 

Image source: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/11723/woman-at-her-toilette