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Guest blogger: Beth W. Stewart (Galerie Stein featured artist)
When was your last trip down a rabbit hole? If you're like me, it's a daily occurrence. One thing I love about teaching world history (which I do) is all the rabbit holes I get to travel, under the guise of “prep”.The Cold War is rich in this regard. I’ve previously written (albeit briefly) about one such rabbit hole—the suspected CIA involvement in writing the rock anthem “Wind of Change” by the Scorpions. Fascinating stuff!
Turns out, Abstract Expressionism was also caught up in Cold War politics—whether it wanted to be or not. Abstract Expressionism in the mid-20th century encapsulated the ideals of liberalism, individualism, and the creative audacity of a free society.
Since the US sold itself globally as bearers of these ideals, Abstract Expressionism was considered a useful marketing tool to challenge Soviet propaganda that portrayed the US as “a ‘culturally barren’ capitalist wasteland.” This, despite the fact that Abstract Expressionism was at the time widely disregarded as—in President Trumans’s words—“merely the vaporings of half-baked lazy people.” But that was precisely why Abstract Expressionists were such a valuable cultural marketing tool—they proved that America’s artists were truly free (i.e., free to create whatever and however they wanted).
Abstract expressionism was the antithesis to Soviet realism like this painting. 'Stalin and Voroshilov in the Kremlin' by Aleksandr Gerasimov, 1938, in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow (source)
After the creation of the CIA in 1947, the organization began funding the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA’s) international exhibitions, especially through its *supposedly* autonomous artists association, the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF).In 1952, the CIA-funded CCF and MoMA presented the 'Masterpieces of the 20th Century' festival in Paris, featuring Abstract Expressionist paintings. The festival’s message was clear: these artowrks “could not have been created... by such totalitarian regimes as Nazi Germany or present-day Soviet Russia.”
Installation view of 'The New American Painting as Shown in Eight European Countries 1958–1959' at MoMA. (Photo by Soichi Sunami, source)
And therein lies the paradox... Abstract Expressionists created freely and subversively, but their work was promoted and used by the government for its political agenda.
As historian Manfred Holler put it, “If the CIA, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Congress of Cultural Freedom were major players in the cultural warfare game, then the Abstract Expressionist artists were the pawns.”
The Metropolitan Museum in New York acquired Jackson Pollock’s 'Autumn Rhythm' for an unprecedented sum in 1957, a year after the artist’s death (Credit: Metropolitan Museum, source)
Until the public outing of the CCF as a CIA project in 1966, Abstract Expressionist artists remained unaware that their paintings were weaponized to fight the Cold War. Given the anarchist-leanings of some Abstract Expressionists, they undoubtedly would not have consented.
That said, in some kind of dark irony, the ideological mobilization of Abstract Expressionism generated the very means (funding and international exposure) that allowed artists to create their masterpieces and to continue doing so.
Written by our guest blogger:
Beth W. Stewart
Galerie Stein featured artist
Vancouver, Canada
Galerie Stein will be presenting several contemporary Abstract Expressionist artists both virtually at GalerieStein.com and in our gallery in Montreal in 2024.
Contact: Pete Stein - Galerie Stein at peter@GalerieStein.com
