But why? I was reading a fairly vacuous art history book and they drop all this knowledge and then do 0 analysis of it. Feels like they’re saying “teehee, ain’t it so quirky?” Their best guess was to counter Socialist Realism and to promote the US as an art powerhouse, a vision of artistic freedom!!! Is that the materialist interpretation?

E: Thanks for all the thoughtful responses. Genuinely. When I write that it sounds corporate, but I mean it