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posted by martyb on Saturday October 31 2015, @11:21PM   Printer-friendly
from the that-explains-a-few-things dept.

For decades in art circles it was either a rumour or a joke, but now it is confirmed as a fact. The Central Intelligence Agency used American modern art - including the works of such artists as Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko - as a weapon in the Cold War. In the manner of a Renaissance prince - except that it acted secretly - the CIA fostered and promoted American Abstract Expressionist painting around the world for more than 20 years.

The connection is improbable. This was a period, in the 1950s and 1960s, when the great majority of Americans disliked or even despised modern art — President Truman summed up the popular view when he said: "If that's art, then I'm a Hottentot." As for the artists themselves, many were ex-communists barely acceptable in the America of the McCarthyite era, and certainly not the sort of people normally likely to receive US government backing.

Why did the CIA support them? Because in the propaganda war with the Soviet Union, this new artistic movement could be held up as proof of the creativity, the intellectual freedom, and the cultural power of the US. Russian art, strapped into the communist ideological straitjacket, could not compete.


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  • (Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 01 2015, @12:06AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 01 2015, @12:06AM (#257041)

    'artsy' -- A daring piece by A. Coward, who certainly shows a lot of potential in the art world.

    Anonymous Coward brings something new to the table in his debut piece 'artsy'. The first thing that one notices is the lack of capitalization on the first letter of 'artsy' and 'controversial', which no doubt is meant to invoke a rebellious feeling. Anonymous Coward doesn't play by the rules! The eye is also drawn to the period that ends the sentence, and, being the only period in the entire piece, it just reinforces the message: "I'm ending this sentence, and there's nothing you're gonna do about it!"

    Another thing to notice is the blank space left in the last sentence of the piece, which is styled as if it were an attribution. The artist wants us to 'fill-in-the-blank', as it were, and the wildcard approach of this technique makes this kind of audience interaction very risky; Anonymous Coward manages to pull it off very nicely.

    I value this art piece at approx. $1 bajillion US dollaridoos.

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  • (Score: 2) by Bot on Monday November 02 2015, @08:47PM

    by Bot (3902) on Monday November 02 2015, @08:47PM (#257678) Journal

    Yes yes, but his comment ID, #257035, does not fit in with the rhythm of the piece AT ALL. I think you seriously overrated the work of tovarisch Anonymous Coward.

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    Account abandoned.