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Fun fact! Jackson Pollock, along with other abstract expressionists, was a CIA propaganda asset! The CIA believed that abstract expressionism, with its unbound
by rexpop 2y ago
Fun fact! Jackson Pollock, along with other abstract expressionists, was a CIA propaganda asset!
The CIA believed that abstract expressionism, with its unbound and individualistic style, could be associated with American freedoms, so they secretly funded the "Congress for Cultural Freedom", an anti-communist advocacy group that promoted American arts and culture, including abstract expressionism, through international art shows and publications.
Art or writings that touched on US racism (Pollock was contemporaneous with numerous lynchings) and imperialism (Guatemala, Iran, Greece, Korea) were, of course, passed over.
Ever since I learned this, I have lost all emotional appreciation for his works. While before they seemed free, now they seem cheap.
- Deprogrammer9 2y agoThey killed him knowing his art would skyrocket in price. They still have his art on their walls to this day.
- rexpop 2y agoThis is a vague and baseless conspiracy theory.
- 0x1ceb00da 2y agoIt was a money laundering scheme.
- dang 2y agoRelated: Was modern art a CIA psy-op? (2020) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36155204 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36155204 - June 2023 (332 comments) https://www.openculture.com/2023/10/how-the-cia-secretly-used-jackson-pollock-other-abstract-expressionists-to-fight-the-cold-war.html https://www.openculture.com/2023/10/how-the-cia-secretly-use... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10462602 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10462602
- skrebbel 2y ago> Ever since I learned this, I have lost all emotional appreciation for his works. While before they seemed free, now they seem cheap. I don't understand this. Because he got paid for it, the work is cheap? Do you think he would've made different works if the CIA hadn't funded his art shows? I struggle to imagine what a Pollock "about" racism would look like, and how the CIA would notice that it's about racism. I mean you do you, I don't mean to tell you you can't dislike someone's art. I just really don't get it :D
- alt227 2y agoIt reeks of the same stench as cancel culture. Once some people have seen a connection to something they dont like, they just cant bring themselves to enjoy that thing anymore. I guess those sorts of people like to fixate on what they hate.
- rexpop 2y ago> I struggle to imagine what a Pollock "about" racism would look like That Pollock's style cannot address racism is, possibly, why it was promoted over more politically salient schools.
- bazoom42 2y agoCIA also promoted jazz music which was very effective in getting European intellectuals and artists to appreciate American culture more. But I don’t see how that should make you appreciate jazz music itself any more or less.
- hermitcrab 2y agoWhen I look at ludicrously priced 'conceptual art' and 'abstract expressionism' I see decadence, not freedom.
- krapp 2y agoThe freedom to express a decadence that would be forbidden by the USSR. That's the entire point.