Comment by TheOtherHobbes
3 years ago
They funded splashy but tame talented artists with no political leanings, and destroyed or starved artists who were more overtly political.
There was a lot more happening in art than AbEx. But only AbEx received official approval as an acceptable political metaphor for bold individualism.
Approval included canonisation by museums and galleries and think pieces by art critics.
https://www.artforum.com/print/197406/abstract-expressionism...
This seems more plausible than the more maximalist version of the claim where they were essentially shoving abstract expressionism down everyone's throats because of its uniquely counterrevolutionary nature.