Athena is a British art retailer and

retail chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

, which was founded in 1964. Today it sells fine art prints from a variety of UK artists. However it is best known for its iconic

poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...

s such as '' L'Enfant'' (a picture of a muscular man cradling a baby),

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

from 1976 by

Jimmy Cauty James Francis Cauty (born 19 December 1956), also known as Rockman Rock, is an English artist and musician, best known as one-half of the duo The KLF, co-founder of The Orb and as the man who burnt £1 million. He is married to artist and mu ...

, the

Tennis Girl The Tennis Girl is a British poster of a female tennis player without underwear that has become a British pop icon. Creation The photograph was taken by then-30-year-old Martin Elliott in September 1976 and features 18-year-old Fiona Butler ( ...

poster from 1976 and " Beyond City Limits", published in the 1990s."Wonderwalls"
The Guardian (Saturday 10 November 2001)
The Independent (Tuesday 16 January 2007) The company's popular success divided opinion amongst

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s and

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

s who were uncertain as to whether these works were too vulgar and populist to be considered

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

. Athena's first shop was opened by Ole Christensen in

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London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in July 1964, and then bought by E&O which expanded Athena to 60 shops, making sure to keep the ethos on fine art reprints. Eventually the chain was sold off by E&O in 1977 to the Pentos Group before Athena went into

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when it failed in 1995. The profitable stores were reopened by its former franchisees but the last of these shops in

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

ceased trading in September 2014, bringing its

high street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

era to an end. Athena now operates as an online gallery and art retailer.

References

{{Authority control British brands Retail companies established in 1964 Retail companies based in London Postcard publishers