Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2012 - Call for Entries

This is a reminder that the deadline for registration and digital entries to The Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2012 is 23 February 2012.

It gets a little busy! Just a few of the patrons and friends who attended the Private View
of the Annual Exhibition 2011 of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters

One of the benefits of the exhibition is that it is extremely well attended by patrons and those who have been painted.  The PV always has the most people attending of any of the art societies or the competitions that I attend at the Mall galleries - the photograph taken above is AFTER the announcement of the prizes and some people have left!

Those that commission also seem to like to do it again - and the Commission desk is always very busy on the PV day and subsequently!  Certainly it's an excellent exhibition to visit if you are contemplating commissioning a portrait.

If you'd like to read more about past exhibitions - and see some of the works which have been accepted in the past - see my reviews of exhibitions in recent years which are at the end of this post.

If you'd like to know what you need to do to enter this year's exhibition - read on!

When is the exhibition?

The exhibition is held at the Mall Galleries between 3 - 18 May 2012.  

It will be open 10am-5pm every day including weekends and public holidays and open until 7pm on Thursday 10th and Thursday 17th  May.  It closes at 5pm on Friday 18 May.

Who can enter?

There is no age or geographical constraint on who can enter.  This exhibition has attracted entries from international artists in the past.

What can you enter

First, I suggest you take a look at the exhibition catalogues - which show portraits painted my members of the Society

• 2010 catalogue
• 2009 catalogue

Then take a look at my reviews - you can see photographs of some of the paintings - not all of which are by members.  I give links to the websites of artists who have work included in the exhibition where they get mentioned and I can find the website.

OK - so that's the standard!  Now for practical matters......

You can enter:

• No. of works:
• Maximum of three works to be submitted. 
• Maximum of three works will be selected. 
• Acceptable media: Oil, watercolour, acrylic, pastel, pencil, sanguine, conté and any dry medium. Original prints (please detail edition and how many are available). 
• Size:  Prior notice required of any art taller than 2.4m (8ft) 
• Price: This is an exhibition which understands that commissioned work will not be for sale.  However 
• there is a minimum price of £300 (£100 for original prints)
• A commission of 45% (plus VAT) will be charged on the price paid for work or copyright license sold during or as a result of the exhibition, or on commissioned work (unless otherwise advised) arranged through the Exhibition Administrators.  Hence your price must allow for this commission.
• Presentation of artwork: 
• All pictures must be securely framed. Frames should be stout enough to withstand mirror plating for hanging purposes. No hooks are required for hanging purposes and there should be no projections whatsoever from the back of the frames. This is to prevent damage to other works.
• The following are inadmissable:
• Metal frames and clip frames
• Glazed works with unprotected glass edges
• Non reflective glass
• Frames and mounts of an unusual colour, size or design may prejudice the chance of selection.
• All work has to be submitted unwrapped and no packing materials will be stored by the Gallery

How to enter

The submission is digital with online entry via the Mall Galleries website. (see my post for more details about this - NEW two-stage digital pre-selection process for FBA Exhibitions). 

Artists, the Society and the Gallery all benefit from the pre-screening due to reduced costs of processing and handling artwork. 

For the 2012 exhibition, artists can bypass the digital pre-screening process and hand in artwork on the submission day.

Registration and Fees

• Download the Registration Pack
• Submission fee: £12 per work irrespective of size
• OR £6 per work for artists under the age of 35
• (no further hanging fee)

Digital submission

The basic process and requirements for digital images are as follows

• register and obtain artist login
• upload a digital image of all works you plan to submit
• Image files may be JPG (recommended) or PNG at no more than 4MB in size
• There should be no symbols (such as *'()?<>" etc) in the filename of your image
• The system will accept varying resolutions and image dimensions
• those which pass the initial pre-screening will be invited to submit work to the gallery in London

International artists

International artists need to deal with a carrier which will unwrap the artwork, store the packing material and repack it at the end of the selection process or the exhibition if the work has not been selected or sold. This service is not available at the Mall Galleries

Dates and Deadlines

The submission is digital with online entry via the Mall Galleries website. See 

• the Mall Galleries website for the formal Call for Entries and General Guidelines for Entries
• my post for more details about this - NEW two-stage digital pre-selection process for FBA Exhibitions)

	Dates and Deadlines
Registration & digital submission opens	1 November 2011
Registration & digital submission closes	12pm 23 February 2012
Notification of pre-selection (on Mall Galleries website)	Tuesday 1 March 2012
Receiving Days (this year includes submission by those who have NOT submitted work for pre-selection)	Friday 16 March & Saturday 17 March 2012, 10am-5pm
Regional hand-in dates	check this link
Bristol	Royal West of England Academy, Bristol on first receiving day from 12pm – 3pm. Contact Art Moves
Surrey, Sussex and Kent	Contact Art Moves
Edinburgh, Perth, Glasgow, Dumfries, Carlisle, Kendal, Preston, Lancaster, Penrith, Manchester, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Birmingham And Doncaster	Contact Picture Post direct at least two weeks before our London receiving days
Penzance, Totnes, Exeter & Southampton	Contact South Hams Express
Collection of unaccepted work	Saturday 31 March or Wednesday 4 April 2012, 10am-5pm
Exhibition (open to public)	Private View: Wednesday 2 May Opens to public: Thursday 3 May, 10am-5pm including weekends Closes: Friday 18 May, 5pm
Collection of unsold work	Thursday 15 March 2012, 10am - 5pm

Awards and Prizes

The Society has a number of significant prizes - the most valuable of which is the Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture

• The Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture: £10,000 plus the Society’s Gold Medal awarded for the most distinguished painting in the Society’s annual exhibition. 
• The de Laszlo Foundation Prize: £3,000 plus a Silver Medal for the most outstanding portrait by an artist aged 35 years or under. 
• The Prince of Wales’s Award for Portrait Drawing: £2,000 and framed certificate for work in a recognised drawing medium.
• The Changing Faces (Commission) Prize: The Changing Faces Prize is awarded to the artist whose portrait best conveys the energy of their subject, the directness of their gaze and an attitude that exudes openness and confidence. The Prize is a £2,000 commission to produce a portrait of a person with an unusual-looking face for the Changing Faces Collection.

Individual awards cannot be won by the same artist within three years.

Who can apply for membership?

As with many of the national art societies, election to membership of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters is based solely on the quality of an artist's work. 

What you need to do: The application is not a walk in the park and it's not based purely on the work submitted to the exhibition - so you need to make sure you have a decent portfolio of work before applying.  

If you wish to apply, the normal procedure is as follows;

• Submit work to the Annual Exhibition
• Write APPLICANT at the top of your entry form.
• That's it - until you get a letter......

The Selection Committee will then decide whether or not to add your name to the Candidates’ list.  If selected, Candidates may be invited to submit further supporting work to the Annual General Meeting, following the close of the exhibition, when elections take place.  Candidates will be informed of the results of the election by post.  Names normally remain on the Candidates’ list for three years, after which, one year must elapse before reapplication, unless the Selection Committee recommends an extension.

What you don't need to do!

No Proposers or Seconders are required.

Past Exhibitions

If you'd like to read about past exhibitions see my reviews listed below.

• Review: Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2011 (Part 1)
• Review: Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2011 (Part 2)
• Review: Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2010
• Exhibition review: Royal Society of Portrait Painters 2009
• James Lloyd wins The Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture (2008)

Tomorrow I'm off to see the preview of the Lucian Freud Portraits exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery - which opens on the 9th February.  Don't miss it!

Links: Portraiture - Resources for Artists