Beauty, Anger, and Artistic Activism Carrasco Barranco, Matilde Anger Artivism Beauty Rage Project “Beyond Beauty: Nature and Critical Relevance of Aesthetic Properties” (Fundación SENECA, Plan Regional de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Región de Murcia) 20934/PI/18. “Normative Aspects of Aesthetic Appreciation” ( Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. España) PID2019-106351GB-I00. The rejection of beauty from a political standpoint is a significant part of the legacy of avant-gardism in contemporary art. In particular, Arthur Danto signaled that artistic activism should avoid beauty simply because beauty induces the wrong perspective on whatever it is desired to have an impact upon. While artistic beauty’s tendency would be to heal, he claimed, political protest needs anger as its trigger. This article challenges such an argument that opposes beauty’s emotional effects on political action by examining the complex nature of both beauty and anger. I contest a mere contemplative view of beauty and, using Carolyn Korsmeyer’s account of “terrible beauties,” bound up with discomforting emotions, I defend that beauty can be compatible with anger albeit, in order to be politically truly effective, anger must move from the wish to punish toward more productive forward-looking thoughts. Though often being necessary as a source of motivation to fight for justice, I believe, with Martha Nussbaum and Myisha Cherry, that anger is truly politically effective and keeps its noble side when detached from revenge and directed by hope, a value related to beauty. 2025-12-16T07:45:54Z 2025-12-16T07:45:54Z 2023-02-21 journal article Carrasco Barranco, Matilde. Beauty, Anger, and Artistic Activism. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Volume 81, Issue 2, June 2023, Pages 280–289. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaac/kpad004 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/108825 10.1093/jaac/kpad004 eng embargoed access Oxford University Press