How the CIA Secretly Used Jackson Pollock to Fight the Cold War

Jackson Pollock and the Abstract Expressionists made New York City the center of the art world after World War II. The CIA made them weapons of the Cold War.

This video explores the ideas that animated post-war American abstract painting and how these ideas were exploited by the CIA to combat Soviet propaganda.

References:

Art Forum: "ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM, WEAPON OF THE COLD WAR" by Eva Cockcroft
New Yorker: "Unpopular Front" by Louis Menand
New Art City by Jed Perl

[tryitout-]

what marvels me is that people think this stuff isn't happening now with other causes.

[cosmodious]

Jack the Dripper is top tier nicknaming. Pure class.

[matthiasvangysel]

i think your documentaries are from a superb quality and are tv worthy. Great work!

[krullntherakrore]

If you look closely at it, both the Soviet and the American artist were pawns on the board of the world's political game. But the art produced by both spoke for itself: the imprisoning austerity on the Soviet side and the shattering of the individual on the American side. Here in the century XXI, I believe that it is already possible to see the wear and tear of the two narratives... people are tired of the hardening of a police state and also of frivolous individualism in the midst of world misery.

[gavinreid]

Realist art was considered deeply suspicious after WW2. The subject matter often commented on social issues.This immediately opened the artist up to accusations of communism. Consider the mural work of Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. Artists were pushed towards abstraction by Mccarthyism. Abstraction became the image of Capitalism.

[armandogavilan]

Stuff like Pollock's HAS to be forced into human heads by marketing and propaganda, no other way around, I don't despise his works, they have rhythm and movement, they decor nicely, just like some bird shit on the floor.

[louhawk]

A special club of interior decorators wall ornament technicians from the past..

[carlodave]

Great topic! Isn't it interesting how the dwindling respect the world has for the U.S. corresponds with our increases in military spending? Jazz, rock & roll, Hollywood, and independent artists did far more for international influence than anything the military accomplished since WWII. Now compare dollars spent.

[robinaart]

very interesting and well put together vid - it's like the hippie movement in the 60s, that too was 'arranged' let's say - with certain 'programs'. It's kind of horrible really how the arts are infiltrated - I'm not sure how many people actually realise the extent of modern cultural manipulation. It's all a bit chilling tbh, if you look into it.

[CandyMinx]

Great stuff! I saw Peter Fuller deliver his thesis on this subject at The Rivoli in Toronto a few months before he passed away. THE NAKED ARTIST by Peter Fuller...a wonderful analysist like you. Thanks!

[artytomparis]

Shared.
In the process it was necessary to destroy the previous art movements and I do mean destroy. There were a couple of backup groups which the also CIA funded just in case abstract expressionism didn't catch on but they were very much kept in the background despite their funding and the artists in the groups saw themselves as rebels even though they were continuing a long tradition of knowledge and skill which attempted to bridge the gap between the spirit and the material world.

[sarahloffler]

This is an excellent thesis. Well done!! Thanks for the lucid story and calm narration. Brilliant.

[strollingthroughparadise]

Well done! New information that is very interesting and relevant to right now. Thank you for making this video!

[mx]

America famously not banning books and entertainment to this day.

[JohnMccart]

Jack the Dripper has got a lot to answer for.

[mikedtw]

Got me wishing the MOMA would mount an exhibition comparing soviet art and the abstract expressionists of this time period, wow! Get some talented writers on board to produce some essays on this.

[dfgyuhdd]

Psst. Look into Laurel Canyon and how nearly all of the free-thinking hippie musicians who lived there had close ties to the Federal government.

[jimtroeltsch]

I would rather admire and appreciate a statue dedicated to the workers who helped build a school, a hospital, or even a road, than I would paint dripped on a canvas, any day of the week.

[Amanda-cddm]

What amazes me is the length people went to to decieve me. Isanity.

[MemeMan-nsqw]

This is a great video, you deserve more views!!