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Forms of Persuasion: Art and Corporate Image in the 1960s
In the 1960s, multinational corporations faced new image problems—and turned to the art world for some unexpected solutions.

The 1960s saw artists and multinational corporations exploring new ways to use art for commercial gain. Whereas many art historical accounts of this period privilege radical artistic practices that seem to oppose the dominant values of capitalism, Alex J. Taylor instead reveals an art world deeply immersed in the imperatives of big business.
 
From Andy Warhol’s work for packaged goods manufacturers to Richard Serra’s involvement with the steel industry, Taylor demonstrates how major artists of the period provided brands with “forms of persuasion” that bolstered corporate power, prestige, and profit. Drawing on extensive original research conducted in artist, gallery, and corporate archives, Taylor recovers a flourishing field of promotional initiatives that saw artists, advertising creatives, and executives working around the same tables. As museums continue to grapple with the ethical dilemmas posed by funding from oil companies, military suppliers, and drug manufacturers, Forms of Persuasion returns to these earlier relations between artists and multinational corporations to examine the complex aesthetic and ideological terms of their enduring entanglements.
1140207058
Forms of Persuasion: Art and Corporate Image in the 1960s
In the 1960s, multinational corporations faced new image problems—and turned to the art world for some unexpected solutions.

The 1960s saw artists and multinational corporations exploring new ways to use art for commercial gain. Whereas many art historical accounts of this period privilege radical artistic practices that seem to oppose the dominant values of capitalism, Alex J. Taylor instead reveals an art world deeply immersed in the imperatives of big business.
 
From Andy Warhol’s work for packaged goods manufacturers to Richard Serra’s involvement with the steel industry, Taylor demonstrates how major artists of the period provided brands with “forms of persuasion” that bolstered corporate power, prestige, and profit. Drawing on extensive original research conducted in artist, gallery, and corporate archives, Taylor recovers a flourishing field of promotional initiatives that saw artists, advertising creatives, and executives working around the same tables. As museums continue to grapple with the ethical dilemmas posed by funding from oil companies, military suppliers, and drug manufacturers, Forms of Persuasion returns to these earlier relations between artists and multinational corporations to examine the complex aesthetic and ideological terms of their enduring entanglements.
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Forms of Persuasion: Art and Corporate Image in the 1960s

Forms of Persuasion: Art and Corporate Image in the 1960s

by Alex J. Taylor
Forms of Persuasion: Art and Corporate Image in the 1960s

Forms of Persuasion: Art and Corporate Image in the 1960s

by Alex J. Taylor

Overview

In the 1960s, multinational corporations faced new image problems—and turned to the art world for some unexpected solutions.

The 1960s saw artists and multinational corporations exploring new ways to use art for commercial gain. Whereas many art historical accounts of this period privilege radical artistic practices that seem to oppose the dominant values of capitalism, Alex J. Taylor instead reveals an art world deeply immersed in the imperatives of big business.
 
From Andy Warhol’s work for packaged goods manufacturers to Richard Serra’s involvement with the steel industry, Taylor demonstrates how major artists of the period provided brands with “forms of persuasion” that bolstered corporate power, prestige, and profit. Drawing on extensive original research conducted in artist, gallery, and corporate archives, Taylor recovers a flourishing field of promotional initiatives that saw artists, advertising creatives, and executives working around the same tables. As museums continue to grapple with the ethical dilemmas posed by funding from oil companies, military suppliers, and drug manufacturers, Forms of Persuasion returns to these earlier relations between artists and multinational corporations to examine the complex aesthetic and ideological terms of their enduring entanglements.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780520383562
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication date: 03/15/2022
Edition description: First Edition
Pages: 320
Product dimensions: 7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Alex J. Taylor is Assistant Professor in the Department of History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: The Culture Sell 1

Part I Repackaging Pop 21

1 Trademarking Campbell's Soup 25

2 Container Corporation's Art Direction 43

3 The Bold New Taste of Philip Morris 67

Part 2 Abstraction at Work 91

4 Chase Manhattan's Executive Vision 95

5 A Passport for Peter Stuyvesant 135

Part 3 Marketing Materials 163

6 Modernizing Italsider 167

7 The Rusting Face of U.S. Steel 189

8 Collapse at Kaiser Steel 209

Conclusion: Conceptualizing Corporate Sponsorship 227

List of Abbreviations 239

Notes 241

List of Illustrations 293

Index 297

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