Abstract
The ideas of ‘corporate art’ or ‘corporate patronage’ became firmly embedded in the art world in the 1980s. However, this is not the only time that corporate sponsorship was suggested as having a role in the art world. In the 1940s, it was thought that big business could become the new “art angel” and assume the novel role of key patron of contemporary American artists. This article uses a case study—Pepsi Cola’s “Portrait of America”, an annual prize-bearing art competition with the twin aims of providing support for contemporary artists and acquiring materials for an advertising calendar—as a case study of why business patronage of art did not take root in the 1940s.
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