Forms of Persuasion - by Alex J Taylor (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Forms of Persuasion is the first book-length history of corporate art patronage in the 1960s. After the decline of artist-illustrated advertising but before the rise of museum sponsorship, this decade saw artists and businesses exploring new ways to use art for commercial gain. Where many art historical accounts of the sixties 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. These projects unfolded in Madison Avenue meeting rooms and MoMA galleries, but as the most creative and competitive corporations sought growth through global expansion, they also reached markets all around the world. From Andy Warhol's commissions for packaged goods manufacturers to Richard Serra's work 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"--

Book Synopsis

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.

From the Back Cover

"Alex J. Taylor's excellent and richly revealing Forms of Persuasion returns to the topic of art's relationship to capitalism in the 1960s to uncover things most scholars have preferred to ignore--Warhol's quiet acceptance of commissions, Big Tobacco's willful organization of touring shows, and many corporations' canny acquisition of abstract art for branding purposes. Through a wealth of fascinating stories, Taylor shows all the moves in the delicate dance shared by artists and corporate chiefs in a period of dissent."--Joshua Shannon, author of The Recording Machine: Art and Fact during the Cold War

"Challenging long-accepted verities about the nature of corporate sponsorship, Alex J. Taylor presents a series of shifting paradigms that reveal how the relationship between business and art was transformed by the end of the 1960s. This powerful book will reinvigorate the discussion of a phenomenon central to art culture until this day."--Nancy J. Troy, author of The Afterlife of Piet Mondrian

Review Quotes

"Sheds light on the mechanisms by which contemporary visual art elevated corporate image. . . . Taylor's methodology is a worthy model for art historians interested in post-WW II corporate art partnerships that provided cultural capital, enhanced overall images, and international appeal. They were precursors to today's ubiquitous corporate branding intertwined with a thoroughly commodified art world."-- "CHOICE"

"Forms of Persuasion is a well-researched, revealing account of how avant-garde art and design filled the 'fishbowl foyers' of Midtown Manhattan, the imaginations of board members and the pockets of a lucky few artists. . . . This sophisticated new kind of sales pitch, Mr. Taylor argues, helped secure the global dominance of the American corporation."
-- "Wall Street Journal" (7/18/2022 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

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