Essentially set up as a radically left political organisation, the AIA embraced all styles of art both modernist and traditional, but the core committee preferenced realism.
The AIA supported the left-wing Republican side in the Spanish Civil War through exhibitions and other fund-raising activities.
[citation needed] Diana Uhlman had begun to administer the organisation's gallery in Soho.
She was the gallery's secretary and notably helped the artists Edward Ardizzone and David Gentleman.
[5] Another of the AIA's aims was to promote wider access to art through travelling exhibitions and public mural paintings.