Against All Odds: The Emergence of Arts Patronage in Britain and the United States

My comparison of how belief in art as a vital component of civilization in Britain and the United States overcame Puritan and utilitarian objections to government patronage identifies the breakthrough moment in each country and seeks to explain the social and aesthetic traits that accounted for the differences in the nature of those breakthroughs. The essay covers a span of time from the seventeenth century to the present but concentrates on the mid-twentieth century when the crucial arts policies were formulated. I aim to show the relationship of the arts to the crises of Depression and war and to the special influence of the New Deal in America and the Labour Party in Britain. The focus is on the distinctive ways each national effort balanced economic, political, and artistic concerns and concludes with a brief Afterword on the two programs' status after their emergence.