The AIA 1951 Lithographs: Contesting National Identity in Intermodern Prints

Abstract

Abstract This essay examines the Artists’ International Association 1951 Lithographs, a series of prints produced to mark the Festival of Britain. It argues that these works, like others from the period, have received limited art-historical attention due to the dominance of a teleological narrative whose values are rooted in subsequent art movements. It proposes an alternative, ‘intermodern’ framing that emphasises continuity with pre-war ideals of democratising art ownership, and encourages historically informed analysis of the series’ images. In line with recent scholarship on the Festival of Britain, the interpretations offered show the series projecting an idea of Britain as harmonious, egalitarian and optimistic, in a way that supported the Labour government’s programme of social democratic reform. However, some images are also understood as manifesting ideological division and class conflict, as well as late imperial anxiety, in a way that ran counter to the Festival’s conceit of national harmony.