Comparing the included art collections

It seems plausible to claim, similar to Martorella, that there are different corporate taste cultures. (Martorella 1990) These taste cultures express themselves in the corporations’ art collections; as well as in the lack of an art collection, as is seemingly the case with Oracle. Obviously the corporate taste culture is a part of the corporate culture as such, and the values expressed in these cultures which are as described by Schein, often based on the values of the founder or central leaders. (Schein 1999) Although these values primarily represent the personal values of the founder, they are also marked by the time and society in which the founder lives, and which contributes to form his or her values as described by Hofstede. (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005) This means that the time and society in which the values are implemented into the corporation affect what become corporate values, both indirectly through the founder, and directly by where and when they evolve. As a result of this, an art collection may reflect the spirit or the zeitgeist of the corporate culture, as well as of the society where it is established. Sometimes it may also reflect a common corporate culture within equal types of industries. (Martorella 1990)

In Matrix 2 at the next page I compare the qualities of the included art collections, based on visual observations, conversations and documents. The interpretations here are not exhaustive, and represent suggestions on how art collections can be interpreted, and not as the only way of interpreting art collections. Here the observed and interpreted qualities function as categories that are compared in the analysis.

Matrix 2: Observed qualities of corporate art collections Time and style Personality

Gen-der Oracle 1989 Graphic prints and

Non professional art

2.2.6.1 Personality; comparing the personality of the art collections

As mentioned above, the personality of the collections relies on the founder, leaders and the corporate culture, which is also often influenced by when and where the corporation is established. All the included corporations have high

quality art collections, except Oracle that seemingly has no art collection, and HP that does not seems to emphasize the art collection although it has an average quality. Four of the oldest collections from the fifties and sixties; HP, JPMorgan Chase, Idemitsu and Bridgestone are marked by the post World War II period in different ways. While the HP collection reflects a post war national interest in high tech and future innovation, which may have been reinforced by the space race between the US and the Soviet Union, JPMorgan Chase collected

Contemporary art such as Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Pop art and the following abstract styles, which is claimed to be encouraged in the US in opposition to the figurative art that was the dominating style in the Soviet Union.

Or as one could also add; in opposition to the Romantic figurative art ideal of the Nazis. Also the Idemitsu collection reflects the post war period by its

concentration on national and regional arts and crafts, while the Bridgestone collection reflects the post war period through national art from the early twentieth century. In the post war period Bridgestone also purchased a lot of early modernist European art. The emphasize of the early twentieth century art, as well as antique arts and crafts, makes these two Japanese collections reflect a nostalgia which is also the case with the relatively new collection of Panasonic Electric Works that is mainly concentrated on early twentieth century French art.

This means that all three included Japanese collections actually reflect nostalgia in different ways, by looking back to the times before World War II.

The collections of Telenor and Statoil reflect different phases of an evolving oil-state; the early and the mature oil-state. The early oil-state collection of Statoil reflects a national orientation and presumably a need of national protection in an early phase of a crucial change in the Norwegian society. Oracle claims that they have no collection, which may reflect the economic recession at the time of erecting the headquarters, or simply a lack of art interest. Opposite to Oracle, the Davis Wright Tremaine collection was established in a time of economic recession in the US society which may reflect optimism, future belief and focus on human values. The Chevron collection reflects an interest in global primitive, ethnic and antique arts and crafts, and thus it shares some similarities with the Idemitzu art collection that also consists of ethnic and antique arts and crafts. It is also interesting to notice that both these corporations are oil corporations. Similar to the collections of Telenor, Statoil and Davis, Wright, Tremaine, the collections of Cartier and Société Genérale are relatively new art collections consisting of contemporary art, and include a lot of works made by young and living artists.

These five collections are the newest collections in the study, that also more than the others reflect the society of our time in Norway, the USA and France, modern

corporate cultures that may diverge from earlier times, for instance in the case of Telenor, with its extremely free organization of work.

2.2.6.2 Gender; comparing the gender aspect of the art collections

In light of the gender codes described by the art historians Gade, Duncan and others, (Gade 2001) (Duncan 1992) and the contradictory gender dichotomies described by Bourdieu, such as large-small, strong-weak, active-passive, etc.

(Bourdieu 2000) discussed in chapter 2.1.4, art collections that appear as masculine are often dominated by monumental and large sized artworks with a raw and unrefined expression and may have sexual motifs or undertones without being directly pornographic, although the latter is often avoided in corporate collections. Masculine collections may also contain artworks with a technical expression that is depicting “masculine objects” such as cars and vehicles. In opposite, harmonious with the gender dichotomies a “feminine” collection would represent artworks of a smaller size with more refined art expressions, and depicting female interests and activities, for instance home oriented expressions.

The gender representation among the artists contributes to underpin the gender of a collection and as it appears, all of the included collections are dominated by male artists, although the percentage of male versus female artists diverges. Still, not all of the collections appear as entirely masculine, and even though there are more males than females represented in the collections males may also create feminine art expressions, as well as females may create masculine art

expressions. However because of the dominating male representation and male expressions, one cannot claim that any of the included collections are entirely feminine. Thus I characterize the collections with both feminine and masculine features as “mixed”. Based on the features mentioned above, seven of the 11 collections that are analyzed here appear as mainly masculine, while four appear as mixed, among these two collections consisting of mainly primitive, ethnic and antique arts and crafts, Chevron and Idemitsu, which are both oil corporations.

But while Idemitsu concentrates on national and regional art objects, Chevron concentrates on global art objects. The other two mixed collections are the Bridgestone collection, with a lot of medium sized artworks mostly created in refined techniques, and many with a refined feminine and colorist expression rather than monumental and raw, although there are also several clearly

masculine art expressions in the collection. The fourth collection that appears as more mixed in respect of gender and gender dichotomies is the Davis Wright Tremaine collection that also has many medium sized artworks that appear as refined in respect of techniques and visual expressions.

2.2.6.3 Pure art; comparing the absence of offending art in the collections

None of the included collections seems to contain openly offending art, in respect of an improper sexual, religious or violent character, although Telenor has had to remove art with such content, for instance an artwork created by the controversial artist Bjarne Melgaard mentioned in chapter 2.1.5.3, and the headquarters still has an artwork that many experiences as provocative; Jenny Holzers digital text strip on top of the north building. Seemingly Statoil have some works depicting nude people, which they are advised by an anthropologist not to include in their new art book, and among recent acquisitions they also have some works created by Melgaard, and a crucifix created by Torbjørn Rødland, which may potentially be offending. JPMorgan Chase seems to have a few artworks made by artists that in other contexts are regarded as controversial, such as Gilbert and George, and Robert Mappelthorpe. But seemingly none of their artworks displayed in the collection are of an offending character. Also Cartier has, or has displayed art made by these artists; Gilbert and George and Robert Mappelthorpe, but

seemingly none of the artworks in the collection are directly offensive, except for an artwork by Gilbert and George that contains two flying crucifixes that may be experienced as blasphemous by some, and some art with indirect sexual content.

While both of the two Norwegian corporations seem to have art that may be experienced as offending or as blasphemous, none of the three Japanese corporations seems to have such artworks in their collections.

2.2.6.4 Spaces of art; comparing where the corporations display art While all of the art and art collections in the Norwegian and American

corporations and one of the French collections, in total eight, are integrated in the corporate headquarters, in the meaning of, being spread around in common areas, meeting rooms, corridors and offices, all of the included Japanese collections are gathered in internal art museums, located within the corporate headquarters.

Obviously internal corporate art museums seem to be more common in Japan than in Norway, the USA and France, which may be due to cultural differences.

Only one of the included corporations, Cartier in France, has an external art museum. It also seems less usual to have a corporate collection in an external art museum in the West than in Japan, where this appears in several situations, as for instance the Suntory art museum in Osaka, located in a separate building outside of the corporate headquarters similar to the Foundation Cartier. In the USA however it seems to be more usual with personal art museums founded by retired corporate founders, leaders and their mates, for instance the Guggenheim Museum and the Getty Centre, where personal art collections are opened to the public in great museum buildings, presumably in order to preserve their

reputation for the future as great business magnates who also emphasized human values.

2.2.6.5 Territorial; comparing the territorial dimension of the art collections

In my analysis of the territorial dimension of the included art collections the term

“local” refers to a limited area within a state or a country, for instance North California or North of Norway. The term “regional” refers to a larger geographical area or a cluster of states such as the Nordic countries or Scandinavia which usually includes Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, or the North States in the USA. Here I also use the term “global” to include “every country on earth”, as the term “international” is often used to describe a cluster of industrialized countries, as claimed by Quemin and others (Quemin 2008) discussed in 2.1.7.2. For collections that include art from one specific foreign country, such as France, I use the term “foreign”, as art from one particular foreign country is not the same as international, global or regional art.

As we can see, all of the collections contain some national art in combination with art from abroad. Seemingly Oracle with its occasional art, here not

considered as “a collection”, and HP which contains local art, or art mainly from the same state. Both of these corporations represent high tech industries. Two of the collections consist mainly of national and regional art; Statoil and Idemitsu;

which are both oil corporations. Both Chevron and Cartier have global art, as in the meaning of including art also from developing countries, and countries in the South, such as African states. One of the Japanese corporations, Panasonic Electric Works has as the core of its collection, art from only one foreign country, France. Also Bridgestone has a great quantity of art from one foreign country, France. But the Bridgestone collection also contains national art and art from several other countries, such as antique objects from Greece and from the US, and among other, one Abstract Expressionist painting by Jackson Pollock.

Obviously the content of an art collection can reveal to what degree corporations have their focus on people or clients; or whether they prioritize employees and their work environment or the brand factor of art. According to Martorella, corporations can be characterized as either client-centered or people-oriented through their art collections. While people-oriented corporations use more quality art from local artists, the client-centered corporations prefer art from nationally known artists. (Martorella 1990) In addition to national art, five of the twelve corporations also have a considerable amount of contemporary

international (or global) art; Telenor, JPMorgan Chase, Davis Wright Tremaine, Cartier and Société Genérale. Two of these corporations, JPMorgan Chase and Société Genérale are banking corporations, which is an interesting aspect in light

of the findings of Martorella; that the more international oriented art, the more client-centered the corporation, (Martorella 1990) which may be a crucial quality for banking corporations.

2.2.6.6 Capital; comparing the communicated cultural and economic capital As most of the included corporations have a high quality art collection, except for Oracle and HP, the founders and leaders in these corporations are most likely to possess a certain cultural capital, for instance by being “art lovers”. High quality art also implies high economic capital, which is a presumption for purchasing such art. High quality art may also represent consumption of luxuries, to signal power and wealth. It is usually the founders and leaders who make the final decision about which artworks and styles that should be purchased, although most corporations also use an art committee, curators or art advisors when they decide what to purchase. According to one of my informants, an American art advisor; “art committees are the norm”. But sometimes also the interior designer, the architect, corporate representatives, and staff who will be using the facility are involved in the acquisition process. But the experience of my informant is also that “the collections are always dictated by upper

management”. This means that the art collection as such, the number of artworks and the represented styles, rely on the cultural capital of the decision makers.

Still the collection also becomes a part of the corporate culture, and signalizes cultural capital to the surroundings. Due to the correlation between high quality art, high economic capital and high cultural capital I could have left out the right column in the matrix, but I decided to keep it in order to visualize that not every corporation with high economic capital chooses to have a high quality art collection, as for instance Oracle. Some may also have art that signals average economic capital, for instance HP, as the quality of the collection is also average.

In corporations that lack an art collection that can signal economic or cultural capital, there may indeed be other factors that do this, such as the architecture, as in the case of Oracle. In the ten other corporations included here, the art

collections signal both high cultural capital and high economic capital, independent of national belonging.