Shah told me that in pop music the breakdown goes '46--'63 so I'm halving this as a framework. After WW11 the populist underground type of art got real noir and sensationalist. Since this era was about Mac McCarthyism and ramping up the cold War it makes sense that it was dark. I like walking in the the dark side better then the America dream mainstream insipid illustrators and graphic art of this time.

This series has taught me a lot as I was not old enough during this time to visually grasp more then the bottoms of my parents drapes and the hideous upholstery. Hope you like this as it seem too esoteric to be of much interest and it's not about politics per say. And yet it is. A exploration of art/design that is hard to pin down as it has nebulous boarders that bleed across the lines I know and have established. So this is a highly subjective view with some objectivity added by Google/Pinterest who are the arbitrators and keepers of what is relevant and worthy and then tell you what protest art is through the len's of google glasses. This quote from a helpful article sums up my feeble attempt here

http://www.timeout.com/london/art/art-and-politics-of-the-cold-war

Artists are not anti-government agents or suppliers of counter-information, and those who set out to destabilise or resist using such obvious, reactionary means will usually be shot down before their message is heard. This is because those who adopt the direct techniques and shock tactics of politicians – whether it’s Banksy’s cod-protest art or Peter Kennard’s graphic, sloganeering posters – can be dismissed as mere propagandists or political agitators. However, the truly political artist can insinuate and subtly subvert opinion without sledgehammer sermons, engaging the public consciousness on a deeper level and infiltrating the lifeblood of culture. Politics in art is still possible; in fact, in this age of apathy it might soon become vital.

'Protest' Art Cold War Style according to Google

Before the WW11 had even ended the Cold War was being heated up and the propagandists were hard at work. the Abstract Expressionist's hit the floor. The CIA sponsored tours of the world of the biggie famous painters and artists. There works were taken on tour globally as propaganda against the rotten Dr.Commie Rat's worst evil ever, better believe as it they are coming soon to a theater near you. This art proved that good old cappie freedom created individualism made great artists even if it looked like something out of a vacuum bag. They fought the Soviet Unions hideous social realism with Jack the Dripper. Take that you commie hack painters of bad art. These artist's made New York City and the Cedar Bar the headquarters of the Ab Ex movement.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-weapon-157880...

Here's a lover of women De Kooning. /s His wife another ab ex artist Elaine de Kooning was the artist speaker at my Otis Parson graduation event during the punk revival of ab ex and the Constructionists Russians in the 80's art shool types.

They were so all Existential and full of Jungian Angst

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_expressionism

American social realism had been the mainstream in the 1930s. It had been influenced not only by the Great Depression, but also by the muralists of Mexico such as David Alfaro Siqueiros and Diego Rivera. The political climate after World War II did not long tolerate the social protests of these painters. Abstract expressionism arose during World War II and began to be showcased during the early forties at galleries in New York such as The Art of This Century Gallery. The McCarthy era after World War II was a time of artistic censorship in the United States, but if the subject matter were totally abstract then it would be seen as apolitical, and therefore safe. Or if the art was political, the message was largely for the insiders.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-weapon-157880...

Have to say I was happily surprised to learn that Pablo Picasso, another 'lover' of woman, was not such an asshole as I had formerly thought. Even though I knew right away that he was as good as the Beatles. During the post war period he lent his hand to peace groups and did not go on the CIA tour.

http://www.timeout.com/london/art/art-and-politics-of-the-cold-war

Pablo Picasso began to lob back the odd intellectual grenade, hoping to explode the myths of ‘victory at any cost’ being espoused by both warring sides. First, Picasso depicted the human suffering of war in his legendary composition of dismembered figures, ‘Guernica’, which was painted over a couple of months in 1937 when he was supposed to be in London giving a lecture at the Royal Albert Hall. When asked by a Nazi officer, ‘Did you do that?’ of his famous picture, Picasso replied, ‘No, you did.’ Not long after, the artist was marked out as a left-wing radical, even though his depiction of a white dove – initially used in advertisements for huge socialist rallies – was widely adopted as a new symbol of peace.

Picasso scarf 1951 for students for peace

Picasso's Peace Dove series

Pulp covers and comic covers New York Style

On the populist level here in der Homeland the commercial art and graphics Betty Cocker'ed out. Consumerism along with American values post war prevailed. However underground or out in plain view in this McCarthy era of censorship and a vision of American life that was so squeaky clean it dazzled there was a lot of fine art going on.

The pulps both comics and paperbacks were the graphic and literary seamy side of the post war and 1950's. this was the heyday of pulps despite the censorial prudish government and establishment who tried to shut them down. They were spoiling the youth and causing a breakdown in law and order. good on them I say and good on the artists who toiled often anonymously to keep body and souls alive in NYC just like the Ab Ex'er who hung out in the Cedar Bar did.

This artist did 880 covers for pulps. His name is Rafael De Soto.

Have a good day all of you cc99%'ers. Next up 1956- 1966. The beginning of Elvis the Pelvis's accent and the death of Jackson Pollack aka Jack the Dripper.