“All art is propaganda … on the other hand, not all propaganda is art”

May 25, 2024 12:46 PM

Not All Propaganda Is Art is a nine episode series of the podcast Benjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything. In it, Walker tells the story of the CIA’s cultural Cold War propaganda operations in the 1950s as reflected in the lives of three men, cultural theorist Dwight Macdonald, theater critic Kenneth Tynan, and novelist Richard Wright. The show notes are also full of interesting links and images. If you’re not sure you want spend nine hours in the paranoid fifties, Sarah Larson gives a very good overview in the New Yorker [archive].
posted by Kattullus (7 comments total)

. Its flaws and considerable strengths are distinctly its own. It feels almost like propaganda itself, both for the importance of its subjects and for the legacy of the cultural Cold War—an era that, in Walker’s estimation, “built the world we live in today

😂
posted by clavdivs at 1:28 PM on May 25 [2 favorites]

cool! had not heard of the debate around existentialism explored in episode 2. found a letter to editors that relates

there was a book a bit ago on Abstract Expressionism in the Cold War. this is from a review:
whatever the truth of the extent of the CIA’s financial involvement with Abstract Expressionism, [David] Anfam believes that it was “the best thing the institution ever paid for”. He smiles. “I’d much rather they spent money on Abstract Expressionism than toppling left-wing dictators.”

also, artcurious
posted by HearHere at 1:30 PM on May 25 [2 favorites]

Thanks for this. I downloaded the first episode. It's nice to see what appears to be (at a quick glance) some interesting public scholarship on the topic.
posted by cupcakeninja at 2:07 PM on May 25 [1 favorite]

The Richard Wright part is a tragic story.
posted by y2karl at 3:11 PM on May 25 [1 favorite]

My father was one of those propagandists. In 1955, when I was a little kid, he left his job as an editor at the NY Herald Tribune and joined USIS. His first post was Paris from 1955 to 1957, then in another French city, right in the middle of this shit. Then he went to Warsaw from 1960 to 1963. And subsequently to Laos in 1967. I suspect it was all CIA.
posted by mareli at 3:26 PM on May 25 [6 favorites]

You should listen to pretty much anything by Benjamen Walker, but this series is pretty wild
posted by mayoarchitect at 4:35 AM on May 27 [2 favorites]

I am extremely familiar with the Ab-Ex CIA links, but it has assumed way too much prominence as far as the history of the New York School goes. They helped fund some shows but in no way were they fundamental in establishing that movement, as misguided art historians like Serge Guilbault, who's extremely influential 1986 book, How New York Stole the Idea of Modern Art, Abstract Expressionism, Freedom and the Cold War, claims that exact thing.
It's silly, it's more of a side show than anything, but it has become a conspiracy theory online with people making the claim that the CIA created Jackson Pollock's career. I have been accused of being a CIA plant when I have engaged.
The men and women who made up that early generation of artists emerged from radical left wing artist circles in the 1930s, endured years of poverty, and became central to the art world after WWII.
A more interesting take is how this generation's art was depoliticized by critics like Clement Greenberg and ended up decorating corporate head quarters by the late 60s. Peter Wollen's Raiding the Icebox has a fascinating essay about this very thing.
So, I guess in an odd, horrible way, the CIA won after all.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 11:36 PM on May 27 [3 favorites]