AIA Everyman Prints

Artists International Association was an exhibiting society founded in London in 1933, which held exhibitions and events to promote and support various left-of centre political causes. Having come out of the First World War and then seeing the global effect of the Great Depression in 1929 many of these artists wanted to promote a better world. Though the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War erupted it was important to have a society where artists could still publicly protest war in a subtle way.

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 Vanessa Bell – London Children in the Country, 1939

The principal founders of the A.I.A. were Misha Black, James Boswell, Clifford Rowe and Pearl Binder. The guiding ethos was to promote a radical response to political events in the world. A unity against Fascism, both home and abroad.

Its membership quickly grew throughout the 1930s and 1940s (930 members by 1945) so that in 1947 it was able to acquire permanent premises in Lisle Street. In the 50′s the political aims of the group were dropped after they broadcast support for an alliance between Britain and the Soviet Union. In 1953 it became an exhibiting society.

In the Second World War the A.I.A. started a series of prints but due to the economic climate of WW2 it wasn’t a vast success.

In 1942 it was reported to members that the scheme had run into production and retailing difficulties and with ultimately only about 5,000 prints sold, the royalities could not have been very remunerative. 

The print series ran from 1939 to 1942 and all the images in this post are taken from the series.

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 Helen Binyon – The Flower Show, 1939 – Everyman Prints AIA

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 James Boswell – Hunger marchers in Hyde Park, 1939 – Everyman Prints AIA

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 Helen Binyon – Summer Holiday, Walton-on-Naze, 1939 – Everyman Prints AIA 

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 Lowes Dalbiac Luard – The Rescue, 1939 – Everyman Prints AIA

List of Artists International Association print series – 1939 to 1942

  1. Mary Adshead – Sprint on Woodhouse Moor
  2. S R Badmin – A British Common & Down for a Refill
  3. Durac Barnett – Bread and Circuses
  4. Vanessa Bell – London Children in the Country
  5. Pearl Binder – Evacuation Scene, 1939
  6. Helen Binyon – The Flower Show
  7. Helen Binyon – Summer Holiday, Walton-on-Naze
  8. Helen Binyon – The Gate
  9. Stephen Bone – Village on coast
  10. Arthur Boyce – Upheaval
  11. James Boswell – Candidate for Glory
  12. James Boswell – Gitte Business
  13. James Boswell – Hunger Marchers in Hyde Park
  14. Herbert Budd – September, 1939
  15. Robert Butler – The Station
  16. David Caplan – Liverpool Station
  17. Raymond Coxon – Evacuated Children at a Yorkshire Village
  18. Moira Evans – August Bank Holiday
  19. Moira Evans – November 11th, 193 9
  20. Chris Fontaine – The Library
  21. Kathleen Gardiner – Market Day
  22. Phyllis Ginger – Chimps at the Zoo
  23. Rowland Hilder – Landscape
  24. James Holland – ‘Here They Come’
  25. James Holland – Country Town the Militia
  26. James Holland – News Reel
  27. Henry Holzer – Barrage Balloon
  28. Diana John – On the Beach
  29. Diana John – Evacuees, Bradford-on-Avon
  30. Helen Kapp – ‘My Marmaduke’
  31. Helen Kapp – A Queen’s Hall Prom
  32. Helen Kapp – English Rose
  33. Helen Kapp – Black-out; Listening to Beethoven
  34. L D Luard – The Rescue
  35. Peter Barker Mill – The Threat
  36. Mona Moore – Draught Players
  37. Theodore Naish – Underground
  38. Freda Nichols – Fun Fair
  39. Russel Reeve – Barrage Balloons ascending over Hampstead
  40. Geoffrey Rhoades – Blackout
  41. C H Rowe – Unemployment Assessment Board
  42. Kenneth Rowntree – Wartime Hoardings
  43. Maurice de Sausmarez – A Garden – God Wot
  44. Edward Scroggie – Street Market
  45. Beryl Sinclair – The Row
  46. Elizabeth Spurr – Washing Day
  47. Feliks Topolski – Drawing
  48. William Townsend – W E A Meeting
  49. Henry Trevick – The Fair
  50. Kathleen Walker – The Mother’s Union in War Time
  51. Carel Weight – Blockade
  52. John Piper – The Font and Tortoise Stove: Britwell Salome

Lynda Morris and Robert Radford – A.I.A. The Story of the Artists’ International Association, 1999. p58