The fusion of art and politics: Events shaping the public-private venture to take American art abroad

During this century the visual arts in the United States came to be recognized as a medium of influence and as a mode of communication. The fusion of art and politics resulted in a new form of diplomacy. This thesis examines the public and private influences shaping cultural diplomacy. It explores how we as a nation devised a cultural image to be presented abroad and how that image reflected political and ideological trends. Both primary and secondary resources were utilized to follow the mazelike path of government-private sector collaborations to promote the cause of American art. With the formation of the Art in Embassies Program (AIEP) in 1964, the United States government successfully formalized a program of cultural diplomacy. Though modest in scope, the AIEP is one of the most enduring collaborative initiatives to establish an American cultural presence abroad through the visual arts.