Thoughts on Bias in Discipline Part 2: The Arts; Should an Artist’s Contribution To Their Art Be Separated From Themselves?

All disciplines share fault in the use of bias in their study—this is especially true when it comes to figures that have provided substantial movement to the discipline; typically, these are the individuals whose work we tend to study when we take a course. There may be omissions to several of the defining factors of an event or person, or there may simply not be a lot of coverage on the flaws and faults of the event or person. The purpose in the use of bias is to communicate selective values and positive moral judgments; this will maintain the discipline’s positive standing and prevent any discouragement from people who wish to study the discipline.

In an attempt to maintain the public integrity of a discipline and continue the study of a discipline, the dominant and influential figures that have provided substantial contributions to the development of the discipline are often depicted as unrealistic perfect beings—in my opinion, it should be a priority to properly teach about the figures that hold such weight without any omission to their biography; unfortunately, this is not the case. The bias toward individuals and events in history branches across several disciplines including: English literature, Western Music, and Western Art. The leading figures in these disciplines are often celebrated and solely recognized for their contribution, which creates the sensation that these individuals are flawless and perfect—interestingly, this image can be quite intimidating for disciples, which sort of works in contrast with the attempt to maintain more disciples with the bias towards the figures.

 

If you continue reading this post, I encourage you to ponder. Should things in a discipline be taught truthfully? Is there any validity in this approach to teaching? Should we still learn about these individuals? Is it alright to neglect these individuals and their large contributions to the progression of a discipline?
Warwick also had a fairly interesting question to ponder on, which was referenced in Joe Moran’s book Interdisciplinarity: “Is it not sufficiently attractive to ensure a voluntary attention to it”?

 

There are many impactful individuals in the disciplines of Western Art, Literature, and Western Music that have contributed toward the development of their respective art forms; similarly to the study of history, this large contribution leads to a biased approach at teaching and writing about them. These individuals, who have assisted in the development of their art from, should not be praised as unrealistic and perfect individuals.

There are several reasons as to why we should avoid praising these impactful individuals as perfect beings. The first is that the superhuman portrayal of these individuals creates an unrealistic model for disciples learning about and dedicating themselves to the discipline. The second lies on the darker side of the spectrum of good and bad: while most of these individuals are not perfect, a select few are terrible individuals despite their substantial contribution. In spite of these terrible truths, it is also important to recognize why historians may omit these negative details and why individuals who teach these disciplines introduce these influential individuals as perfect models—even so, I personally believe that someone’s artistic contribution should not overshadow themselves.

Several of these important figures in the disciplines of literature, music, and art include: Charles Dickens, William Golding, Carlos Gesualdo, Richard Wagner, and Pablo Picasso. These individuals have contributed towards several significant advancements in their discipline, and because of that are depicted as perfect individuals in order to serve as role models for aspiring disciples—in contrast to this assertion, each of these individuals is far from the incantation of perfection; they are by all means human, which implies they share in human flaw and imperfection, some worse than others.

Respectively, these individuals have contributed to 20th century literature, the Renaissance era of Western music, the Classical era in Western music, the Romantic era of Western music with s opera and a new approach to tonality, and the 20th century era in art with the concept of Cubism. In contrast to their great contributions of these individuals, they have separately partaken in adultery, been recorded for attempted rape, committed murder or uxoricide—this specifies the murder of one’s wife—contributed towards anti-Semitic movements and gained the recognition of Adolf Hitler, and participated in adultery with an underaged woman. These historical and important individuals were certainly not perfect, some even participated in extremely atrocious acts—that being said, their contribution to their art forms were excellent.

 

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was an English writer, often regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian age, wrote some of the most endearing fiction of all time and created some of the world’s best-known fictional characters. Dickens was one of the first writers to write about the life of the common folk; he participated in a sort of social commentary—and his influence travels beyond that of literature. Charles Dickens is often regarded as “the man who invented Christmas”—this is in reference to the popular depictions of the festival, not the creation of the religious holiday itself. His work was excellent and essential to the development of English literature and the approach to social structure in literature. Dickens’ contributions are why he is studied in English classes today. In his own personal life, Dickens was married to Catherine Hogarth, with whom he shared 10 children. Unfortunately, Charles Dickens was not a phenomenal husband; he had an affair with a young actress, Ellen Ternan, and then was divorced when he was caught sending a gift to her. Once his wife divorced him, Dickens proceed to publicly write about her and shame her, calling her mentally disturbed and malicious.

 

 

William Golding

William Golding is another English writer, responsible for the famous piece Lord of the Flies, which had an extremely prominent underlying idea: “there is evil within all men”. This novel was substantial because it was Golding’s approach to explaining the atrocities of an extremely impactful event that occurred in the world: The Second World War—Golding personally experienced the atrocities of the Second World War. Lord of the flies approaches the laws and rules behind society, and removes them to show why they are important. The plot follows several children, stranded on an island with appealingly no rules, laws, or adults. Eventually, the situation pushes these kids into a fight to the death; this essentially tells the reader that evil is in all men and that terrible things could happen anywhere. This approach to such an important idea through literature helped push the development of literature. Golding’s work was substantial and important, because of that he is described positively when learning about him, with the exclusion of details that should certainly be attached to himself—he is also an attempted rapist. In an unpublished memoir Men and Women, Golding details his attempted rape on a 15-year-old girl. (You can find more details on this event and several other famous writers here: https://www.ranker.com/list/writers-and-artists-who-were-bad-people/cosmicboxer)

 

 

Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner was a famous composer from the 19th century who wrote several famous epic—and extremely long—operas like Der Ring des Nibelungen, which features the famous piece Flight of the Valkyries, and Lohengrin, which features the famous wedding march Akt Und. He was an extremely influential composer, but he was also infamous for his anti-Semitic public writings which eventually gained the favor of Adolf Hitler.

 

Skip to 3 minutes for the famous Wedding March

 

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso was a famous artist who pushed and advanced art in the twentieth century through his invention of Cubism, which differed from the classical approach to painting, alongside painter Georges Braque; Picasso was arguably one of the most dominant and influential artist of the first half of the 20th century—Picasso also created collage and made several contributions to Symbolism and Surrealism. Alongside his great contributions to the art world, Picasso was also an adulterer who slept with and impregnated an underaged woman named Marie Walter, a model for Picasso—he eventually leading her to suicide through his decisions. Picasso had a child with Marie Walter while in a marriage to Olga Khokhlova—he supported his child and Marie Walter, but he never gave her the relationship she desired. Throughout Walter’s life she waited for Picasso to marry her properly, but even after he divorced Khokhlova he remarried to a woman named Jacqueline Roque; Walter simply wasted away. Three years after Pablo Picasso died, Marie Walter committed suicide in 1977.

 

 

While I do not believe that the evil or unfortunate acts that these important figures are justified by their contributions, I do believe that these contributions, apart from the acts of the composer or artist, deserve praise and are essential to the study of their respective art—these individuals do not deserve praise at the omission of their acts; I think the more extreme acts should especially not be erased from their history.  Similarly, I do not believe we should separate an artist from the atrocious acts they may have committed and only praise them for their positive contributions. They do not deserve ultimately praise, they deserve recognition for what they’ve done entirely, including the positive and the negative. I think it is important to avoid painting these figures in the arts as perfect being and to avoid removing any faults they have.

 

Carlos Gesualdo

One specific individual that I would like to discuss in depth is Carlos Gesualdo da Venosa, born in 1561, who is on the very far dark side of the spectrum of good and bad. Gesualdo, after discovering an affair between his wife Marian and another nobleman named Carafa, murdered them. Gesualdo is the ideal example of when not to omit details of an individual’s life.

Despite his terrible act, he escaped unpunished; he even escaped large repercussions in history, as most individuals who write about him skim over his act as a murderer and emphasize his musical contributions. Gesualdo realized extremely unique approaches to chromaticism in music during his time—this contained several techniques that would not be observed again until the 19th century. His approach to harmony and chromaticism was unorthodox when compared to his contemporaries. Because of his importance in Western Music history, most biographers of his life choose to omit or gloss over his position as a murder, in order to maintain the integrity of music—they have even gone to the lengths of using unfamiliar phrases like uxoricide, which means to kill someone’s wife.

This brings back an idea I had stated earlier. I believe it is important to realize why historians and teachers might avoid these terrible acts or habits of influential in their art. These individuals, because of their substantial contributions, may be seen as symbols that represent the art. Not only will this misinterpretation cause an unjust perspective on the entire art from, but it may discourage individuals with interest in the subject from pursuing it. Nonetheless, it is important, when teaching about or writing about figures like murderer and composer Carlo Gesualdo, to speak of their entire contribution—we must avoid the attempt to make these historical figures into perfect beings; it is wrong to withhold the truth, and it is wrong to impose an incorrect and unrealistic model onto the disciples of an art form.

 

 

Bibliography

Alexander, Michael. A History of Old English Literature. Broadview Press, 2002.

Burkholder, J. Peter, et al. A History of Western Music. W.W. Norton & Company, 2014.

Romanowski, Michael H. Public Works: The Legacy of the New Deal, Ohio Northern University,

www.socialstudies.org/sites/default/files/publications/se/6003/600310.html.

 

Nozaki, Yoshiko. War Memory, Nationalism and Education in Postwar Japan: the Japanese History Textbook Controversy and Ienaga Saburo’s Court Challenges. Routledge, 2008.

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781134195909

 

Hudson, Alex. “Charles Dickens: Six Things He Gave the Modern World.” BBC News, BBC, 15 Dec. 2011, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16184487.

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16184487

 

Editors at History. “Nanking Massacre.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov. 2009, www.history.com/topics/japan/nanjing-massacre.

https://www.history.com/topics/japan/nanjing-massacre

 

Oi, Mariko. “What Japanese History Lessons Leave Out.” BBC News, BBC, 14 Mar. 2013, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21226068.

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21226068

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