During the Cold War, the CIA heavily promoted one of US’ most popular modern artists, in a covert propaganda campaign designed to tarnish the image of the Soviet Union. Did the subterfuge succeed?
When reflecting upon the Cold War (1947-1989), most people entertain images of missiles, soldiers and tanks taking up positions on either side of the Iron Curtain, not armies of bohemian artists splashing paint against canvases in an outburst of creativity. Yet that is what was happening during this ideological showdown as the US government began weaponizing the world of art in its battle against communism, which was looking increasingly attractive to Westerners disillusioned with the shortcomings of capitalism.
Until the end of World War II, the United States was considered something of a cultural backwater as far as artistic superpowers go. Yes, the capitalist powerhouse might be able to create Disneyland, McDonald’s, and Coca-Cola, the critics sneered, but never anything of lasting cultural value. And in the off chance that something worthy of praise did appear in America’s galleries and art exhibitions, it was most likely the handiwork of the Europeans. After the war, however, the critics toned down their rhetoric as the cultural scales began to tip in America’s favor. Europe lay in ruins, while Paris, once the epicenter of the Western art scene, had become largely devoid of its best artists and writers, many of whom had fled abroad to escape the horrors of Nazi Germany. This momentous migration thrust New York City into the cultural limelight almost overnight.
In the late 1940s, below the smog and skyscrapers of the Big Apple, a truly American cultural phenomenon was bursting forth into the world called Abstract Expressionism, an artistic movement that mirrored the frenetic, chaotic energy of the bustling metropolis. Of the many diverse artists who made up this group – Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and Franz Kline, to name just a few – the brooding recluse named Jackson Pollock stands out among his contemporaries not only for his unique style of painting, but for the extraordinary details of his personal life. In his 2008 book, ‘The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America,’ Hugh Wilford described Pollock as “Western born, taciturn, hard-drinking, [Jackson Pollock] was the artist as a cowboy, shooting paint from the hip, an incontrovertibly American hero.”
Read more
Born on January 28, 1912 in the Midwestern town of Cody, Wyoming, Pollock made a name for himself with his ‘drip technique’ of pouring and splashing household paint in seemingly haphazard fashion onto typically large canvasses that were positioned on the floor. By comparison, while an abstract work by a Picasso or Braque would contain identifiable details, like a human physique or natural landscape, Pollock’s free-flowing works were a sporadic display of designs and vibrant colors that focused more attention on the painter and the act of painting than the painting itself. “Art was no longer about capturing an experience,” explained Mark Rothko, a contemporary of Pollock. “It was the experience itself.” This radical form of abstraction fiercely divided the critics: while some heaped praise on the spontaneity of the works, others questioned the apparent randomness and lack of forethought that went into the creations.
The art critic Robert Coates derided the work of ‘Jack the Dripper’ as “mere unorganized explosions of random energy, and therefore meaningless.” Reynolds News scoffed at Pollock’s work, stating in a 1959 headline, ‘This is not art – it’s a joke in bad taste.’ Then-President Harry Truman could not resist jumping on the anti-Pollock bandwagon, summing up the popular consensus when he said, “If that’s art, then I’m a Hottentot.” The esteemed art critic of the time, Clement Greenburg, may have had the last word on the matter. In 1943, upon seeing Pollock’s breakthrough work, Mural, a massive 8ftx20ft painting exploding with raw energy, Greenburg concluded, “Jackson was the greatest painter this country has produced.”
Eventually, all this attention in Jackson Pollock and his peers in the Abstract Expressionist movement caught the interest of the US intelligence community, which saw an opportunity through these controversial paintings to challenge the Soviet Union on the propaganda front.