RA Summer Exhibition - a curious exercise in pricing and sales

One of the consequences of having the whole of Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts online - is that you can review which artists got their pricing right - and which got it wrong.

That's a sweeping assertion so let me explain.

But if you want to know what art has sold at the Summer Exhibition you can skip the explanation and go straight to my overview of what sort and size of artwork sold for what range of prices.

I KNOW some artists are going to be very surprised - mostly those who have been over-pricing their work.

I'm hoping my conclusions provide food for thought for those submitting work to next year's Summer Exhibition.

Explore the artworks of the Summer Exhibition by Gallery

The RA Summer Exhibition is the biggest open art exhibition in the world. It attracts an awful lot of visitors, many of whom come to buy - if only to say they bought something from the Summer Exhibition.

That said, if you've got an awful lot of people viewing your work - and you've got it priced right - there's a reasonable expectation that you will sell it.

Moreover, those Royal Academicians have knocked around a bit. They've developed their fans and they ought, by now, to know what their work is worth. One would think.

So does that mean that they are any better or worse than the 'ordinary artist' who submits via the open at getting their pricing right?  It appears that some do and some don't...

The aim is after all to sell the work - since the proceeds of the sales go to support the activities of the Royal Academy Schools. Surely no-one would be so mean as to overprice their work so it doesn't sell?

What has sold - in terms of type, size and price range?

The exhibition closes on 19th August - so it's reasonable to assume that the bulk of the buying has already taken place.

You can review - as I have done - the artwork in the exhibition - and see whether or not it sold. You have a couple of options:

• view the exhibition in person towards the end of its run - and look for the red dots
• view the exhibition online - and look to see whether it has sold

World Cities

In terms of the Online Gallery of Artwork - in the Summer Exhibition Explorer

you can view artwork via

• the individual galleries
• selections e.g.
• Art under £500 - which is a very interesting category
• Photography
• something called Colour pop - which I gather contains some of the brightest, boldest, most eye-catching works
• World cities - artwork associated with various cities around the world
• Portrait of the artist - which means this year rather a lot of portraits of Grayson Perry (this year's Lead Curator)
• Radical geometry - only two sold from the 'collection. Those buying at the Summer Exhibition must not be fans of minimalism or geometry.
• Monochrome - which will include a lot of prints

Portrait of the artist

Alternatively you can customise your selection and review by type of artwork:

• Paintings under £10,000
• Paintings over £10,000 - with Banksy up the top at a symbolic £350 million. 
• Drawings
• Sculpture
• Photography
• Film

There's also Architecture and 'Other' but I've ignored those.

It's a very curious - but very interesting exercise. 

For those like me who like to collect impressions and sort and curate them - here's a few of my conclusions. 

I'd be interested to know what your conclusions are.

Paintings

Over £10,000

• Most paintings over by £10,000 are by members of the RA. 
• by and large expensive artwork (£10,000+) by RAs generally does not sell 
• UNLESS it's figurative and in a realistic or impressionist style by Diana Armfield, Fred Cuming, Ken Howard or Bill Jacklin
• re. non-members - typically you need to be a well known 'name' like Eileen Hogan to sell paintings priced above £10,000 (so don't even think about going there next year unless you think you too are a name!)

£5,000 - £10,000

• Diana Armfield virtually sold out - whether this is a response to her husband's death remains to be seen. However it should not be forgotten that her paintings have displayed perennial popularity
• Other artists who sold - BY SIZE - were
• EXTRA large - Olwen Bowey RA, Catherine Chambers Emma Howarth, Melissa Scott-Miller, Barbara McFarlane, John Wragg RA and Mark Habisrittinger
• large - Mick Rooney RA
• small - Sheila Wallis

Under £5,000

• small paintings - by various artists via the open - predominantly sold for under £500
• medium sized paintings - a very popular category for sales with nearly all sold - mostly within the £750 - £2,000 range. A major educational point for all those wondering about pricing for next year
• large paintings - LOTS of sales - worth studying
• very large paintings - LOTS of sales - worth studying

Drawings

• small - very few (3) but two sold
• medium - 8 drawings and 7 sold (most for under £500)
• large drawings - a significant number sold - but mostly for under £1,000
• extra large - if by an RA or a very well known artist eg Glex Baxter then they sell for over £1,000; if not they typically sell for under - which is as good a benchmark I know for how those who drawn should be thinking about pricing.

Prints

Traditionally this one generates a LOT of sales - but it's impossible to draw conclusions from the summary overview and you have to go to individual pieces to see how much of the edition has sold

• HUGE number of prints priced at less than £1,000
• known RA names can sell well above £1,000 eg. 
• Bill Jacklin RA monotypes sell well
• a Norman Ackroyd RA etching (not cheap - but less than £1,000) with birds has sold out
• small editions are capable of selling out
• from previous shows, I do know that those priced competitively (i.e. small enough for an impulse buy) can sell most if not all of an edition 

Sculpture

• small works and those for less than £2,000 sell a lot better than more expensive and much larger works. There is of course the perennial "where can we put it" question. Small works provide easier answers.
• glass works by Ron Arad RA were extremely popular - all sold
• The Red Bear sold (for £12,500) Congrats to Debbie Lawson!
• Most of the large and very large sculpture for outrageous prices remains unsold - whether or not it could be sold online. I'm sure quite a lot of it might have sold if the pricing had been rather more realistic. Maybe the artists can afford to be outrageous in their pricing?
• I think the sales provide a very clear steer for artists planning an entry next year - study the results for yourself!

Photography

This is a difficult one because like prints there are editions - and the Explorer summaries need to be updated to show how much of an edition has sold.

• Funky Pigeon sold out! Nothing much else did.... mostly quirky photos.
• Only one framed work above £1,000 sold.
• I was actually surprised - "those in the know" are supposed to reckon photography is very popular. All I can say is 'not at this exhibition!'

Film

This has four pieces and all are highly priced - only for those with pots of money and apparently none are interested!

If somebody cares to send me the sales spreadsheet I'll happily crunch the numbers further and tell you more!

and finally......

What has this taught YOU about submitting YOUR ART to next year's Summer Exhibition?

More about Art Competitions & the Summer Exhibition

I write a lot about art competitions and open exhibitions of national art societies. 

Major Art Competitions in the UK is my page which tells you all about the major art competitions in the UK

Previous Posts about the Summer Exhibition

2018 (in order to date)

• Call for Entries - RA Summer Exhibition 2018 - the 250th Anniversary one!
• Rejection from the RA Summer Exhibition
• The agony and the ecstasy of art competition judging
• MUST VIEW online: 250 years of the Summer Exhibition Chronicle
• What's different about the 250th Summer Exhibition curated by Grayson Perry?

Reviews of past Summer Exhibitions 

2017:

• Does the RA Summer Exhibition still have the WOW factor?

2016: 

• 10 artworks of merit at the RA Summer Exhibition 2016 This post is about the ten artworks which remain most clearly in my mind at the end of my visit to the 248th Summer Exhibition at the RA 10 days ago.
• RA Summer Exhibition - open and online - with prints for sale About the virtual version of the RA's Summer Exhibition and scope to buy prints online for the first time.
• Pricing prints for the Summer Exhibition One very small artwork on display at the 2016 Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts very neatly illustrates a very important point about pricing for art competitions and the Summer Exhibition in particular.

2015:

• 10 reasons why the RA Summer Exhibition 2015 might surprise you Overview of the RA Summer Exhibition 2015 - and how it is different this year RECOMMENDED.
• Three celebrity portraits at the RA Summer Exhibition 2015 This post asks some pointed questions about celebrity portraiture within the RA's Summer Exhibition 2015. 
• The Summer Exhibition on the BBC A review of the BBC coverage of the Summer Exhibition 2015 at the Royal Academy of Art.

2014:

• Summer Exhibition 2014 at the Royal Academy of Arts RA Summer Exhibition 2014 - a review of the key facts and an overview of changes in 2014.

2013:

• 10 reasons to visit the RA Summer Exhibition 2013 Review of the 245th Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly.

2012:

• Review: 244th Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts It has a much fresher feel this year ...

2009:

• Exhibition review: The Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition 2009 I visited the Royal Academy of Art last week to see the Summer Exhibition 2009. I honestly can't recommend the exhibition this year.

2007:

• Innovation and tradition at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition The 239th Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition at Burlington House opens to the public today.