Corporate Patronage of Art & Architecture in the United States, Late 19th Century to the Present

Description

This interdisciplinary collection of case studies rethinks corporate patronage in the United States and reveals the central role corporations have played in shaping American culture. This volume offers new methodologies and models for the subject of corporate patronage, and contains an extensive bibliography on corporate patronage, art collections and exhibitions, sponsorship, and philanthropy in the United States. The case studies herein go beyond the usual focus on corporate sponsorship and collecting to explore the complex organizational networks and motivations behind corporate commissions. Featuring chapters on Margaret Bourke-White, Julie Mehretu, Maxfield Parrish, Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera, Eugene Savage, Millard Sheets, and Kehinde Wiley, as well as studies on Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, John D. Rockefeller Sr. and Jr., and Dorothy Shaver, and companies such as Herman Miller and Lord and Taylor, this volume looks at a wide array of works, ranging from sculpture, photography, mosaics, and murals to advertisements, department store displays, sportswear, medical schools, and public libraries Title Page Copyright Page Contents List of Illustrations Plates Figures Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Beyond the Commercial: Corporate Patronage Reconsidered Notes Part 1: Rethinking Corporate Patronage Chapter 1: Corporate Patronage at the Crossroads: Situating Diego Rivera’s “Rockefeller Mural” Then and Now Coda Notes Chapter 2: Maxfield Parrish’s Creative Machinery for Transportation The art of Clark Equipment Landscape and the terrain of suggestive advertising Parrish’s parts “The sky is the limit”: Manufacturing the M.P. brand Notes Chapter 3: Connections and Conflicts: Margaret Bourke-White’s Corporate, Commercial, and Documentary Photography Notes Chapter 4: Incorporated Philanthropy: The General Education Board, Changes in philanthropy and medical education The architecture of early-twentieth-century medical schools The General Education Board and medical education The impact of the General Education Board on the architecture of American medical schools Methods and Problems of Medical Education Notes Part 2: From Tastemaking to Marketing: Corporate Patronage Networks Chapter 5: The Corporate Person as Art Collector: Andrew Mellon’s Capital and the Origins of the National Gallery of Art Corporate vision Plotting the capital The corporate collector Notes Chapter 6: “To Live Is to Look and Move Forward”: Lord and Taylor’s 1928 Exposition of Modern French Decorative Art Modern design on the rise Lord and Taylor’s Exposition of Modern French Decorative Art The enticing ensembles The critical and public response Shaping the consumer citizen Notes Chapter 7: Merchants, Manufacturers, and Museums: The Patronage Networks of Modern Design in the United States, 1930s–50s Art and the machine: The cultural repositioning of industrial design Window-shopping: Modern art for the masses Art and commerce: Useful Objects and Good Design at the Museum of Modern Art For modern living: Culture and commerce on display Furniture showrooms Conclusion Notes Chapter 8: Marketing Hawaii: Eugene F. Savage and the Matson Murals Notes Part 3: Corporate Commissions as Branding and Public Relations Chapter 9: Civic Space and an Iconic Brand: Paradoxes of Corporate Patronage in the Carnegie Library Phenomenon A different type of civic space The process and the role of women A civic space as a brand From brand image to brand identity to brand icon Notes Chapter 10: Banking with Family in Postwar California: Howard Ahmanson, the Millard Sheets Studio, and the Home Savings and Loan Commissions, 1953–91 Millard Sheets, California artist Howard Ahmanson, patron The Home Savings tower Notes Chapter 11: Rusting Giant: U.S. Steel and the Promotional Material of Sculpture Notes Chapter 12: From Bank Lobbies to Sportswear: Julie Mehretu, Kehinde Wiley, and the Shift in Corporate Patronage in the Twenty-First Century Goldman Sachs, “Public” art, and Julie Mehretu’s Mural Kehinde Wiley, PUMA, and the corporate artist Contested narratives: The complications of corporate patronage Coda—Corporate patronage today Notes Contributors Bibliography Corporate Art Collections & Exhibitions Corporate Sponsorship & Philanthropy Index