From 1935 to 1945, the Chicago pharmaceutical corporation Abbott Laboratories, the military's primary medical supplier during the Second World War, commissioned dozens of artists in a unique contractual agreement to produce hundreds of paintings and drawings creating advertisements and illustrations for both its medical journal What's New and for the United States Government's War Department. The contract specifically barred direct company profit from the imagery or advertisements created by commissioned artists yet simultaneously demonstrated Abbott's goodwill and "altruism" by donating the proceeds from public art exhibitions and the sales of color reproductions directly to the government's Treasury Department. Artists participating in the combat arts program received payment, travel expenses, and commissions as full-fledged active-duty military officers in exchange for works over a breadth of war subjects. Despite Abbott Laboratories' large expenditure for these projects, it fulfilled its contractual obligation to turn over all of the commissioned paintings and drawings to the federal government's War Department in June 1945. The terms and conditions of this contract, the tri-partite corporation-patron-artist relationship, the works created through Abbott Laboratories' various art initiatives, and the mass reproduction and mobilization of these images for popular culture constitute the focus of this dissertation. Abbott skillfully designed a system of corporate patronage that masked both its intentions and its benefits to result in artistically rich and commercially viable propaganda. In order to understand Abbott's wartime patronage, one must consider the company's need to rehabilitate its corporate image and its consequent negotiation of the projection of that image, its patronage within the context of 1940s corporate sponsorship and the broader context of wartime patronage, the circumstances surrounding the commission and creation of the individual words within its collection and the circumstances leading to the exhibition, distribution, and final ownership of the artwork. Finally, understanding Abbott's patronage is critical to providing insight into the 1940s American artist's mediation of art and advertising. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2013. / March 20, 2013. / Abbott, Art, Benton, Biddle, War / Includes bibliographical references. / Karen A. Bearor, Professor Directing Dissertation; Valliere Richard Auzenne, University Representative; Adam Jolles, Committee Member; Robert Neuman, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_253319 |
| Contributors | Burrell, Brandon (authoraut), Bearor, Karen A. (professor directing dissertation), Auzenne, Valliere Richard (university representative), Jolles, Adam (committee member), Neuman, Robert (committee member), Department of Art History (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds