Book cover of 'Comrades in Art' by Andy Friend on a white background

Comrades in Art

Artists Against Fascism 1933-1943

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Author and curator Andy Friend explores the legacy of the Artists International Association in a compelling group biography set against a background of resistance to the rise of fascism in Europe

From the depths of the Slump in 1933 to the turning tide of war in 1943, the lives and work of British artists intersected with a world in crisis. A compelling group biography, Comrades in Art tells the fascinating, previously overlooked story of the political factions behind the development of modern art in Britain. It explores how, from student beginnings to the Popular Front through to war, an artists’ network opposing fascism generated work, ideas and actions that would help to shape the post-war world.

Featuring some of the best-known names in British and European art, such as Barbara Hepworth, Paul Nash, Edward Bawden, David Bomberg, Pablo Picasso, Oskar Kokoschka, Kurt Schwitters and Henry Moore, Comrades in Art is rooted in the lives of its diverse protagonists. Taking the first ten years of the Artists International Association as his point of focus, Andy Friend brings to life the captivating drama of the organisation as it rapidly grew to command the allegiance of a majority of Britain’s aspiring and established artists, offering new insights into art and culture during this decade of political extremes.
Extent: 360 pp
Format: Hardback
Illustrations: 202
Publication date: 2025-09-04
Size: 24.6 x 18.6 cm
ISBN: 9780500027417
Foreword • 1. Seven Dials • 2. Charlotte Street • 3. Soho Square • 4. Charing Cross Road • 5. Grosvenor Square • 6. Whitechapel High Street • 7. Camden Street and Senate House • 8. Holles Street • Afterword
    Book cover of 'Comrades in Art' by Andy Friend on a white background

Press Reviews

The rise of the far right and authoritarianism in our own time makes this book vital reading for everybody concerned with visual culture
Peter Kennard, Professor Emeritus of Political Art, Royal College of Art

Friend’s book tells the story of the AIA dispassionately and with clarity: a triumph, given the subject’s organisational and moral complexities. It also reintroduces artists who, for reasons of those complexities, tend to have faded from history: Rowe and Angus both deserve to be better known than they are
Charles Darwent, TLS

<i>Comrades in Art</i> tells a largely unknown story. Friend, who has written acclaimed studies of the painters Ravilious and John Nash, has done an exemplary job
Stephen Smith, Observer

Compelling ... this thought-provoking, readable and beautifully illustrated book is a huge contribution to our understanding of the cultural landscape in the mid-20th century
Ariane Bankes, The Spectator

About the Authors

Andy Friend is an author and curator who turned to writing after a long career leading major public and private organizations. His celebrated artist biographies, Ravilious & Co: The Pattern of Friendship and John Nash: The Landscape of Love and Solace, are both published by Thames & Hudson. Frances Spalding is an art historian, critic and leading authority on 20th-century British art. She is the author of many books, including the critically acclaimed The Real and the Romantic: English Art Between Two World Wars (Thames & Hudson, 2022).

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