The most vivid icons of Cold War militarism — the ever - looming wipeout that could be unleashed — are usually a mushroom swarm or gleaming intercontinental ballistic missile . But we should depend Jackson Pollock , too . The CIA spend millions weaponize modern artagainst Russia .
There ’s little more factious than modern art — most take a staunch “ grandeur ” or “ bullshit ” stance . So it should come as a surprisal that the unbowed - lace feds at the CIA slant toward the former camp — or at least saw it as brilliantly exploitable in the psychological war against the Soviets . Reports from former agents recognise what was always a improbable tale in the art world — that CIA spooks floated pioneering artists like Jackson Pollock , Willem de Kooning , and Robert Motherwell , to drop an esthetic nuke on Communism . What seemed like instinctive popularity of certain creative person was , in part , actually a deliberate attempt at psychological warfare , backed by the US authorities .
But why modern artwork ? At the time period of time in interrogative sentence — the fifties and 60s — the artistic style of the import was Abstract Expressionism . abstractionist Expressionism ( or AbEx , if you need to print people at your next snooty cocktail company ) endure for , above all else , self formulation . Radically so . Take a look at a Pollock , for instance .
Pollock suffer over his canvas , stump , whipping his brush , almost dancing across his painting . It was risky , and raw , and — from an aesthetic position — quite powerful stuff . The reason it churn up so many Americans then ( and now ) was that it was the accurate antithesis of the older stuff . Norman Rockwell stuff . It did n’t just break the rules of painting , it was entirely ruleless — ditto the work of Pollock ’s peers . abstractionist Expressionism was meant to be the unmitigated will of a human being , blasted onto a canvas in the descriptor of pigment . And , thought the CIA , it was American as hell .
You see , on the other side of the planet , the Russian style of choice was Socialist Realism , which show accurate , politically - touch tantrum of home life , productive countrysides , and such . It ’s beautiful school in its own rightfield — but a pretty enormous length from the uncaged , violently individualistic monster of American modern art at the time . So what secure way to win some Communist heart and minds than by impressing them with the “ liberated ” baron of Abstract Expressionism ?
The CIA desire this artistry to be global . So it dumped billion upon millions of dollars to be secret patrons of art reality favorite like Pollock . Fake foundations , used as CIA slush funds , patronise international expo . Former CIA operative Tom Braden say it was pretty easy to wedge your way into the artistic creation mankind when you were packing authorities cash :
“ We would go to somebody in New York who was a well - known fat person and we would say , ‘ We desire to coiffe up a foundation . ’ We would tell him what we were trying to do and pledge him to privacy , and he would say , ‘ Of naturally I ’ll do it , ’ and then you would bring out a letterhead and his name would be on it and there would be a groundwork . It was really a pretty childlike gimmick . ”
And so it went , until both Abstract Expressionism and Socialist Realism ’s renown outlived the Cold War itself , becoming models of excellency for any Art History 101 student . Does the fact that the former ’s popularity owe at least partially to a desire to destroy Russia compromise its integrity as an artform ? According to the CIA gents behind the plot , it should n’t :
“ And after many centuries people say , ‘ Oh appear ! the Sistine Chapel , the most beautiful macrocosm on Earth ! ’ It ’s a problem that civilisation has faced ever since the first creative person and the first millionaire or pope who supported him . And yet if it had n’t been for the multi - millionaire or the popes , we would n’t have had the art . ”
So , I reckon that would make the CIA the Pope ? Who ’s to say what Pollock would have thought of the arrangement had it been disclosed to him , but I ’ll still prefer to bet at his study as a small-arm of beauty , not a bomb . [ The Independent ]
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