ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses abstract expressionism as an instrument of cold war. The story of its success demonstrates the close relationship of foreign and domestic policy and how the constraints given by domestic policy can be circumvented in a democratic society with a strong liberal dimension. The CIA was created by the National Security Act of 26 July 1947 in order to coordinate military and diplomatic intelligence. The CCF managers reported to Tom Braden, then head of CIA's International Organizations Divisions (IOD). By 1956, the International Program of MoMA had organized 33 exhibitions, including the US participation in the Venice Biennale. Several Abstract Expressionist artists had political roots in the Marxism of the 1930s, and their analysis of the new political situation and their own position in it bore the imprint of the Marxist tradition. Cultural policy became a weapon of Cold War.
