Comrades in Art: Artists Against Fascism 1933-1943

by Andy Friend, Frances Spalding (Foreword by)

Overview

This compelling group biography tells the story of the European artistic resistance to the rise of fascism before and during World War II.

From the Great Depression to World War II, the lives and work of British artists intersected with a world in crisis. A compelling group biography, Comrades in Art explores the political forces that shaped the development of modern art in Britain, tracing how artists set aside aesthetic differences to mobilize on an unprecedented scale to resist fascism and campaign for cultural freedom and democracy.

Featuring some of the best-­known names in British, European, and American art, such as Barbara Hepworth, Paul Nash, David Bomberg, Pablo Picasso, Oskar Kokoschka, Henry Moore, Stuart Davis, and Diego Rivera, Comrades in Art explores the lives of its diverse and talented protagonists. Taking the first ten years of the Artists International Association (AIA) as his point of focus, author Andy Friend brings to life the captivating drama of the organization as it rapidly grew to attract the support of a majority of Britain's aspiring and established artists, offering new insights into art and culture during this decade of political extremes. By situating the AIA within a global context, and uncovering connections with Moscow, New York, Paris, Barcelona, and elsewhere, including the New Deal Federal Art Project, this impressive work of research and scholarship is a revealing read for anyone seeking to understand the dynamic interplay of politics and art during one of the most turbulent periods in modern history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780500027417
Publisher:	Thames & Hudson
Publication date:	09/23/2025
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	7.70(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Andy Friend is an author and curator of Ravilious & Co: The Pattern of Friendship and John Nash: The Landscape of Love and Solace.

Frances Spalding is an art historian, critic, and leading authority on twentieth-­century British art. She is the author of the critically acclaimed The Real and the Romantic: English Art Between Two World Wars.

Editorial Reviews

"A stirring, deeply researched history of artists' response to crisis."— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

From the Publisher

★ 2025-08-01
Artists unite against oppression.

Biographer Friend examines a robust artistic resistance to fascism by the Artists International Association, which formed in London in 1933 and took as its mission the “Unity of Artists against Fascism and War and the Suppression of Culture.” Its founders included several artists who had been to the Soviet Union and returned to England inspired by the mutual support among artists in that country. Fearful of the growing threat of fascism throughout Europe, they proclaimed that “now was the time for their generation of artists to organize” in order “to serve shared political goals through their art” and support progressive causes. Focusing on the activities of the AIA from 1933 to 1943, Friend investigates similar organizations outside of England: the International Bureau of Revolutionary Artists in Moscow, for example, and in the U.S., the John Reed Clubs, the Unemployed Artists Group, the Public Works of Art Project, and the American Artists’ Congress. The AIA forged connections with these groups as it grew to become an increasingly visible force in British culture, producing publications and mounting exhibitions, many to raise funds for combatants in Spain and Russia. In its first year, membership tripled; the roster included Julian and Quentin Bell, Augustus John, Henry Moore, and art critics Herbert Read and Kenneth Clark, along with scores of other painters, sculptors, writers, and illustrators whose work appears in the book’s more than 200 illustrations. Many contributors to the AIA’s efforts were 20th-century stars, such as Picasso, who sent hisGuernica to be exhibited in London; muralist Diego Rivera; surrealists Joan Miró and Paul Klee; Ben Shahn; and Virginia and Leonard Woolf, who supported the organization. A biographical appendix identifies less familiar participants.

A stirring, deeply researched history of artists’ response to crisis.

Kirkus Reviews