Athena (retailer)

Athena was a British art retailer and retail chain, which sold posters such as L'Enfant (a picture of a muscular man cradling a baby), the Hobbit from the 1970s by Jimmy Cauty, the Tennis Girl poster from 1976 and "Beyond City Limits," published in the 1990s. The company's popular success divided opinion amongst intellectuals and art critics who were uncertain as to whether these works were too vulgar and populist to be considered art.

Athena's first shop was opened by Ole Christensen in Hampstead, London 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 administration when it failed in 1995. The profitable stores were reopened by its former franchisees but the last of these shops in Exeter, Devon ceased trading in September 2014, bringing its high street era to an end.

Prints that were sold by Athena like the Tennis Girl are solde by other retailers like Amazon, AllPosters & King and McGaw which was described in August 2013 by The Daily Telegraph as the Athena for the internet age.