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Full Idea
No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style.
Gist of Idea
Having ethical sympathies is a bad mannerism of style in an artist
Source
Oscar Wilde (Preface to 'Dorian Gray' [1891])
Book Ref
Wilde,Oscar: 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' [Penguin 1949], p.5
A Reaction
This has a Nietzschean suggestion that the artist is 'beyond good and evil', and operates on some higher level of values, which in Wilde's case seem to be purely aesthetic. You can't justify a callous murder by executing it beautifully.
| 7276 | All art is quite useless [Wilde] |
| 7274 | Books are only well or badly written, not moral or immoral [Wilde] |
| 7275 | Having ethical sympathies is a bad mannerism of style in an artist [Wilde] |