cultural-diplomacy
Latest stories covering cultural-diplomacy, with summaries and links to related coverage.
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Was modern art a CIA psy-op? (2020)
opinion
9 min read
During the Cold War, the U.S. State Department, the CIA, and the Museum of Modern Art promoted modern American art abroad as evidence of liberal individualism and creative freedom in contrast with Nazi and Soviet cultural repression. MoMA completed 38 government contracts for cultural materials during World War II and organized 19 contemporary American-painting exhibitions for Latin America. In 1946, the State Department spent $49,000 on 79 works for its traveling “Advancing American Art” exhibition, but recalled the show in 1947 after domestic criticism; all 79 works later sold for $5,544. MoMA leaders had close connections to wartime and postwar U.S. foreign-policy institutions. Nelson Rockefeller led MoMA while serving in Roosevelt’s Inter-American affairs office, while John Hay Whitney and Thomas W. Braden had served in the OSS; Braden joined the CIA in 1950 to oversee cultural activities. The CIA helped finance MoMA’s international exhibitions and created the Paris-based Congress for Cultural Freedom in 1950. The organization operated for 17 years, at its peak maintaining offices in 35 countries, publishing more than 20 magazines, organizing conferences and exhibitions, and supporting artists and musicians. The Congress and MoMA presented “Masterpieces of the Twentieth Century” in Paris in 1952, framing modern art as work that totalitarian regimes could not produce.