George Wagner examines the expansion in the practices of art and architecture in the USA in the context of the emerging markets of the 1950s, a time when architecture set itself against the vitality of abstract expressionism, preferring to negotiate and sometimes to absorb the myths of subjectivity, process and artistry. As commerce colonized daily life, the architectural profession was consolidating the organizations and procedures that would enable architects to have more control over projects. Wagner is a Professor of Architecture at the University of British Colombia, Vancouver.