Luận án: Nhà nước, Tư nhân và Nghệ thuật Hiện đại Nam Mỹ 1940-1943 - Olga Ulloa-Herrera

STATE, THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND MODERN ART IN SOUTH AMERICA 1940-1943 by Olga Ulloa-Herrera A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of George Mason University in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Cultural Studies Committee: ___________________________________________ Director ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Program Director ___________________________________________ Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Date: _____________________________________ Spring Semester 2014 George Mason University Fairfax, VA The U. State, the Private Sector and Modern Art in South America 1940-1943 A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at George Mason University by Olga Ulloa-Herrera Master of Arts Louisiana State University, 1989 Director: Michele Greet, Associate Professor Cultural Studies Spring Semester 2014 George Mason University Fairfax, VA Copyright 2014 Olga Ulloa-Herrera All Rights Reserved ii DEDICATION This is dedicated to Carlos Herrera, Carlos A. Herrera, and Max Herrera with love and thanks for making life such an exhilarating adventure; and to María de los Angeles Torres with gratitude and appreciation. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I  would  like  to  express  the  deepest  appreciation  to  my  committee  chair  Dr.

 Michele   Greet  and  to  my  committee  members  Dr.  Paul  Smith  and  Dr.  Ellen  Wiley  Todd  whose   help,  support,  and  encouragement  made  this  project  possible.    I  have  greatly   benefited  from  their  guidance  as  a  student  and  as  a  researcher.

    I  also  would  like  to  acknowledge  Dr.  Roger  Lancaster,  director  of  the  Cultural   Studies  Program  at  George  Mason  University  and  Michelle  Carr  for  their  assistance   throughout  the  years.    It  would  not  have  been  possible  to  write  this  dissertation   without  the  help,  kindness  and  support  of  people  around  me,  to  only  some  of  whom   it  is  possible  to  mention  here.    Thanks  to  my  peers  and  now  colleagues  for  their   friendship,  help,  comments,  especially  Rachel  Delgado,  Randa  Kayyali,  Pawin   Malaiwong,  Pia  Møller,  Katy  Razzano,  Tara  Sheoran,  Cecilia  “Lia”  Uy-­‐Tioco,  Victoria   Watts,  Fan  Yang,  and  Nuh  Yilmaz.

   Much  gratitude  goes  to  Ludy  Grandas  for  her   unfailing  moral  support,  advice,  intellectual  generosity  and  friendship.    Special   thanks  to  my  professors  Amal  Amireh,  the  late  Peter  Brunette,  Dina  Copelman,  Jean-­‐ Paul  Dumont,  and  Alison  Landsberg.         Along  the  way  I  have  received  the  support  from  various  colleagues.    I  am  most   grateful  to  Alejandro  Anreus,  Gilbert  Cardenas,  Melissa  Carrillo,  Eduardo  Díaz,  María   Gaztambide,  Jon  Goldman,  Tracy  Grimm,  Melissa  Kroning,  Jose  Limón,  Andrés  Navia,   Adriana  Ospina,  Mari  Carmen  Ramírez,  Will  Rochin,  Victor  Sorell,  Ranald   Woodaman,  and  Tomas  Ybarra-­‐Frausto.

   My  most  sincere  thanks  to  Maria  de  los   Angeles  Torres  who  has  made  many  things  possible  including  the  completion  of  this   project  and  to  my  cheering  colleagues  Luz  Acosta  and  Cristina  Correa.     As  an  archival  project,  I  am  indebted  to  the  staff  of  the  Rockefeller  Archive  Center  in   particular  Amy  Fitch,  the  staff  of  the  Nettie  Lee  Benson  Latin  American  Collection  at   the  University  of  Texas  at  Austin,  the  staff  of  the  University  of  Chicago  Special   Collections  Research  Center,  the  staff  at  the  OAS  Columbus  Memorial  Library  and   Stella  Villagrán,  the  staff  of  the  Museum  of  Modern  Art  Archive,  the  staff  of  the   National  Archives  at  College  Park  and  Adriana  Ospina  at  the  OAS  Art  Museum  of  the   Americas  Archives.     I  would  like  to  thank  my  family  for  their  endless  love  and  support.    I  want  to  note   the  late  Samuel  D.

 Eaton  for  making  so  many  things  possible  for  my  family  and  me   iv and  for  introducing  me  to  the  “Western  Hemisphere  Idea.”    Above  all  I  thank  my   husband  Carlos  and  my  sons  Carlos  and  Roberto.    Words  cannot  express  how   grateful  I  am  for  your  love,  support,  inspiration  and  encouragement  at  every  step  of   the  way.    And  to  Max  who  structured  my  writing  days  and  made  sure  (for  his  very   own  selfish  reasons)  that  I  took  breaks  and  exercise.     v TABLE  OF  CONTENTS   Page List of Abbreviations.

1   The  Rebuilding  of  a  U.  Modern  Industrial  State  and  the  Developing  of  a  U. 37   Nineteen Thirty-Three: A New Modern Industrial Capitalist U. 38   Nineteen Thirty-Three: A Modern U.

44   Nineteen Thirty-Three: The U. State and Modern Art. 50   Nineteen Thirty-Three: The Global Stage and Modern Art. 55   Art and the State: Democracy.

58   A New State Narrative: Modern Art, Democracy, Museums and American Industry. 78   Towards a Definition of a Modern U. 89   Modern  Art  as  a  Strategy  and  Tool  of  National  Defense:    The  Office  for  Coordination   of  Commercial  and  Cultural  Relations  between  the  American  Republics  and  the   Office  of  the  Coordinator  OF  Inter-­‐American  Affairs,  1940-­‐1943. 99   The  OCCCRBAR  Art  Section  and  Modern  Art  in  South  America.

165   Commercial  and  Cultural  Networks:  South  American  Modern  Art  in  the  United   States  and  the  Field  of  Latin  American  Art. 264   The  Art  of  Defense,  The  Defense  of  Art:  Lincoln  Kirstein  and  The  Art  Acquisition  Trip   to  South  America,  1942. 324   Modern  Art:  Cultural  Flows  and  Networks. 438   vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Civil Works Administration.

CWA Elektricitäts-­‐Gesellschaft  Aktiengesellschaft. AEG Federal  Emergency  Relief  Administration. FERA Foreign  Direct  Investment. FDI Franklin Delano Roosevelt .FDR International Business Machines Corporation.

IBM Multinational Corporations.MNCs The Museum of Modern Art .MoMA National  Archives  and  Records  Administration. NARA   Office  of  Inter-­‐American  Affairs .OIAA   Office of Strategic Services. OSS Office  for  Coordination  of  Commercial  and  Cultural  Relations  between  the  American   Republics.OCCCRBAR   Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. CI-AA Office  of  War  Information.OWI Organization of American States .OAS Pan  American-­‐Grace  Company  Airlines .Panagra Pan American Union.PAU Public Works of Art Project.

PWAP Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transporte Aéreo .SCADTA United  Nations  Educational,  Scientific  and  Cultural  Organization .UNESCO United States Information Agency. USIA United States of America. Works Progress Administration.WPA Works  Progress  Administration  Federal  Art  Project. WPA/FAP World War One.WWI World War Two.

WWII viii ABSTRACT THE U. STATE, THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND MODERN ART IN SOUTH AMERICA 1940-1943 Olga Ulloa-Herrera, Ph. George Mason University, 2014 Dissertation Director: Dr. Michele Greet This  dissertation  examines  the  role  of  modern  art  as  a  strategic  tool  of  national   defense  during  an  unprecedented  moment  in  U.

 history  in  which  the  U.  State  and   the  private  sector  converged  to  develop  an  economic  and  cultural  war  preparedness   program  in  South  America.    By  taking  modern  art  as  a  cultural  object,  this  project   studies  the  intersections  of  modernity,  capitalism,  power  relations  and  culture  by   looking  at  the  activities  of  the  Art  Section  of  the  Office  for  Coordination  of   Commercial  and  Cultural  Relations  between  the  American  Republics  (OCCCRBAR)   and  its  successor  the  Office  of  the  Coordinator  of  Inter-­‐American  Affairs  (CI-­‐AA).   The  dissertation  argues  that  the  defense  interventions  of  the  United  States  in  South   America  at  this  particular  moment—with  shifts  in  diplomacy,  power,  hegemony,  and   world  order—laid  out  the  foundation  for  a  regionalization  and  industrial  modernist   infrastructure.

   As  such,  these  interventions  established  early  cultural  flows  and   networks  of  commerce,  transportation,  communication  for  an  American  ideology,   ix cultural  industries  and  visual  culture  later  to  be  fully  realized  with  the  expansion  of   the  Americanization  of  culture  in  contemporary  globalization.   x INTRODUCTION All  too  often  the  ‘Good  Neighbor’  Policy  is    thought  of  as  wholly  a  governmental  program   —Kenneth  Holland1     The  early  1940s  witnessed  an  increased  intra-­‐cultural  activity  in  the  Western   Hemisphere.    Between  1940  and  1943  the  United  States  engaged  in  a  concerted  and   deliberate  cultural  defense  effort  to  export  what  would  become  identified  in  later   years  as  quintessential  American  values  of  democracy,  modernization,  progress  and   a  meritocratic  new  American  Dream  way  of  life  of  economic  prosperity  and   consumerism2  to  countries  in  South  America.      Struggling  to  come  out  of  an   economic  crisis  of  world  proportions,  these  countries  were  now  facing  a  new   1  Kenneth  Holland,  Director,  Division  of  Science  and  Education,  Office  of  the  Coordinator  of  Inter-­‐ American  Affairs  (CI-­‐AA),  to  Mr.

 Del  Pozo  on  behalf  of  U.  Vice  President  Henry  A.    NARA,  Office  of  Inter-­‐American  Affairs,  General  Records,  Central  Files;  Record   Group  229,  Box  365,  Folder:  Arts;  National  Archives  at  College  Park,  College  Park,  MD.   2The  original  term  of  the  “American  Dream”  was  defined  and  formulated  by  James  Truslow  Adams  in   1931  during  the  Great  Depression  in  the  epilogue  of  The  Epic  of  America,  reflecting  the  economic  and   social  conditions  of  the  moment.

   Adams  perceived  it  to  be  "that  dream  of  a  land  in  which  life  should   be  better  and  richer  and  fuller  for  everyone,  with  opportunity  for  each  according  to  ability  or   achievement.  It  is  a  difficult  dream  for  the  European  upper  classes  to  interpret  adequately,  and  too   many  of  us  ourselves  have  grown  weary  and  mistrustful  of  it.  It  is  not  a  dream  of  motor  cars  and  high   wages  merely,  but  a  dream  of  social  order  in  which  each  man  and  each  woman  shall  be  able  to  attain   to  the  fullest  stature  of  which  they  are  innately  capable,  and  be  recognized  by  others  for  what  they   are,  regardless  of  the  fortuitous  circumstances  of  birth  or  position."    James  Truslow  Adams,  The  Epic   of  America,  Boston:  Little,  Brown,  and  company,  1931,  214-­‐215.      As  an  evolving  dream,  however,  in   the  context  of  the  1939-­‐1940  the  “American  Dream”  had  naturally  gone  forward  responding  to   improved  economic  and  social  conditions.

   The  new  aspirations  for  the  future  reflected  in  the  1939   New  York  World  Fair  (Chapter  1),  was  a  changed  “American  Dream”  of  a  capitalist  consumerist   middle  class,  economic  prosperity  and  a  higher  standard  of  living.   1 imminent  threat  of  an  expanding  totalitarian  ideology  in  a  fast  escalating  European   and  soon  to  be  global  conflict.   In  this  dissertation  I  critically  examine  the  role  of  modern  art  as  a  strategic   tool  of  national  defense  during  an  unprecedented  moment  in  U.  history  in  which   the  U.

 private  sector  and  the  U.  State  converged  for  the  first  time  in  developing   an  economic  and  cultural  defense  program.  Financed  with  state  funds  from  the   Military  and  Naval  Appropriation  Acts  of  1941  and  1942  the  program  served  as  a   new  U.  national  security  strategy  and  tool  to  carry  out  a  U.

 cultural  and   commercial  penetration  in  South  America  during  1940-­‐1943.      I  look  at  the   circumstances  and  conditions  by  which  interest  on  the  part  of  the  U.  State  and  the   U.  private  sector  in  modern  art  in  South  America  during  the  early  1940s  came  into   being.

   Rather  than  from  a  diplomatic  cultural  foreign  relations  perspective,  I   explore  the  interest  and  intersections  of  art,  culture,  and  commerce  from  an   strategic  and  emergency  point  of  view  of  national  security  and  defense  under   conditions  of  war  that  sought  to  change  dominant  cultural  values  and  cultural   dynamics  and  patterns  in  a  South  America  regional  societal  structure  seen  at  the   moment  at  high  risk  of  being  infiltrated  and  dominated  by  German,  Italian,  and   Spanish  totalitarian  ideology  and  governance.   In  taking  modern  art  as  a  cultural  object,  this  project  is  guided  by  the   overarching  question  of  how  modern  art  became  a  strategic  tool  for  the  U.  State   and  the  U.  private  sector  during  August  1940  to  June  1943  in  South  America.

   In   looking  at  its  production,  identity,  representation,  regulation  and  consumption  it   2 seeks  to  answer  a  set  of  sub-­‐questions  as  follows:  what  was  the  role  of  modern  art   within  a  frame  of  economic  and  cultural  relations  under  conditions  of  U.  national   security  and  defense?