[Richard Kimball]

one of those jerks in the State Dept photo sold that “highest ever priced” sculpture - speculation is that the state dept was laundering money through that “art” thing.

Following through on this, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, was partially founded by Abby Rockefeller, Nelson Rockefeller's mother. After she died in 1945, Nelson became involved in it.

When I was an Art major in the 1970s, I knew that Abstract Expressionism was crap. However, it was the style you had better be working in to get passing grades. I also knew that the students who were successful were the students who "played the game."

Turns out the CIA started the Abstract Expressionist movement:

Modern Art Was CIA Weapon

According to the article, the CIA pushed Abstract Expressionism as a way to prove America was more open to free thought than the Soviets.

Rockefeller used his money to pay massive amounts for art that nobody really wanted.

Jackson Pollock, Blue Poles

Why would someone pay millions for this painting? They weren't bidding against anyone! If no one else was willing to buy it, why not buy it at a low price? Well, two things. One, as you pointed out, is money laundering. The second is that no matter how much you detest a painting, if someone is willing to pay a million dollars for it, you'll pay attention. In his book, The Painted Word, Tom Wolfe pointed out that there were three art critics in New York that determined whether a show at the MoMa was good or not. So, the whole thing was a CIA scam.

Now, to the claim the CIA made that it was to combat the Russians. The CIA is a lie wrapped in a deception wrapped in a misdirection. This was part of the CIA plan to fracture the collective mind of America. Concurrent with this was the introduction of LSD on the west coast (read The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test), also by Tom Wolfe. The current pathetic state of fine art is directly traceable to Nelson Rockefeller, the CIA, and the Museum of Modern Art.

[little jeremiah]

Very interesteting about the CIA/modern art connection. My mother was an art historian and I grew up going to all kinds of art museums, house had many art books, etc. When I was about 18 I realized modern art was total crap and made people miserable and weird and most people pretended to like it, and never looked back.

The turning point was when I went to a small local museum to see their new show and it was a room filled with white vinyl objects on the floor which were about 10X size replicas of piles of dog crap. I looked around, had the epiphany, and that was it. I never went whole hog into modern art anyway but that was the ultimate wakeup call.

[bitt]

Museum of Modern Art.

(puke)

[nanetteclaret]

IIRC, one of the stated goals of the Communists was to promote ugliness everywhere - in art, architecture, music, literature, etc. Ugliness depresses the soul and I guess they thought it would be easier to control people who felt like there was no joy in life. People who prefer ugliness over beauty are usually the ones who would rather destroy than create, anyway. IMHO, they are mentally ill.

[defconw]

read The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test

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I think I read that book. I certainly recognize the title.