{"id":11339,"date":"2026-06-03T11:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T11:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culturalleft.org\/cl\/2026\/06\/03\/celebratory-exhibition-tracking-anti-fascist-art-reviews-culture-socialist-worker\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T11:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T11:35:13","slug":"celebratory-exhibition-tracking-anti-fascist-art-reviews-culture-socialist-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturalleft.org\/cl\/2026\/06\/03\/celebratory-exhibition-tracking-anti-fascist-art-reviews-culture-socialist-worker\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebratory exhibition tracking anti-fascist art Reviews & Culture – Socialist Worker"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A\n

A mural by Cliff Rowe (Photo: Amanda Squire)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This is a must\u2011see exhibition that displays the work of a group of socially committed artists appalled by the rise of Hitler and the spread of fascism.<\/span><\/p>\n

The artists formed Artists International just months after Adolph Hitler\u2019s 1933 ascent to power.<\/span><\/p>\n

It championed the \u201cUnity of artists for peace, democracy and cultural development\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The group later changed its name to Artists International Association (AIA).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It went on to attract more than 1,000 artists to contribute works to both its permanent and travelling exhibitions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Towner Gallery exhibition displays a wonderful selection of explicitly anti\u2011Nazi works by young, socialist artists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Much of the work was influenced by the explosion in artistic forms and techniques that grew out of the Russian Revolution.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

James Fitton, for instance, was a working class artist from Oldham, Manchester. He went on to produce cartoons and posters. Illustrations and lithographs of working class life by Margaret Fitton, his wife, are also shown.<\/span><\/p>\n

James also formed a \u201ctriple alliance\u201d with fellow artists James Holland and the great cartoonist James Boswell. Their work, much of it from a collective diary that ridiculed the absurdities of 1930s Britain, is on display.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The artists commitment to socialism and hatred of capitalism is evident in much of the work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The exhibition also includes great pieces by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Paul\u202fNash, Laura Knight, Lucien Pissarro and Eric\u202fRavilious.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of them were moved by the call to back the republicans\u2019 battle in the Spanish Civil War and the events leading to the Second World War.<\/span><\/p>\n

Works made during that war, and the post-war period, are on display.<\/span><\/p>\n

They include\u00a0 an array of fine sculptures and a fabulous wall of drawings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The AIA\u2019s association with the Festival of Britain, whose 75th anniversary has just been celebrated, is also on show.<\/span><\/p>\n