The CIA secretly pumped funds into abstract
expressionists, such as Jackson Pollack and Mark Rothko, in an attempt to make
American freedom and expression art popular in contrast to rigid Soviet art.
Yes, the CIA did fund modern art during the Cold War era and modernism
became a weapon, with both the State Department and the CIA supporting exhibitions
of American art all over the world. Actually, the link between Modern Art and
American diplomacy began during WWII, when the Museum of Modern Art was
mobilized for the war effort.
The
CIA was created in 1947, and it began funding and using Modern Art as a Cold
War weapon. It focused in on the works of Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell,
Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko to gather intelligence about the Soviet enemy.
The
Agency soon began promoting American abstract expressionists’ paintings around
the world in the manner of a rebirth in freedom and expressionism- an art Renaissance,
between 1987 and 2001. Cultural and democratic freedoms have been a part of the
CIA’s propaganda campaign against the Soviet Union, and now the Russian Federation
since the end of the Cold War.
Yes, the CIA included American modern art as part of its Cold War
arsenal and made Jackson Pollock a rich man. Mark Rothko and De Kooning became household
names largely because of the CIA’s sponsorships of them. Unlike the military,
the CIA fought the Cold War with abstract expressionists and rock’n’roll, not
guns (Yes, a few hard rock bands were employed by the CIA, but that is for a
later discussion).
Abstract
Expressionism was promoted by the CIA as part of a “long leash” program, funded
by an entity two to three levels removed from the artists. Artists sympathetic
to the communist cause may have objected to their work serving as pro-US
propaganda. It is so ironic that the fundamental values of freedom of
expression, which are the embodiment of American democracy, had many communist
members.
Therefore,
the CIA purposefully ensured that its sponsorship of the American lefty
avant-garde would not be discovered. It knows how to operate underground while
blending in in plain view!
It
was a weird relationship, Jackson Pollock and the Abstract Expressionists unknowingly
linking up to the CIA in NYC. The Big Apple was the center of the art world
after World War II and the CIA made them weapons of the Cold War to combat
Soviet propaganda. I wonder, NYC is still the hub of the art biosphere in
America today… could the CIA still be using them to promote freedom of expression
around the world?
Lastly,
enjoy this video How the CIA Secretly Used Jackson Pollock to Fight the Cold
War.
Robert Morton is a member of the Association
of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO), enjoys writing about the U.S.
Intelligence Community, and relishes traveling to the Florida Keys and Key
West, the Bahamas and Caribbean. He combines both passions in his Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster
series. Check out his latest spy thriller: MISSION
OF VENGEANCE.
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