Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Call for Entries: Royal Society of Portrait Painters 128th Annual Exhibition (2019)

The Call for digital entries for the next annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters has opened

Part of last year's annual exhibition - in the Threadneedle Space at the Mall Galleries
Portrait Artists are invited to submit works for exhibition alongside members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters (RP) at their Annual Exhibition 2019. The deadline for entries is Friday 18 January 2019, 12 noon.
The RP seeks submissions of new and traditional artistic models and perspectives in portraiture.

This is a very prestigious International OPEN Exhibition which any serious portrait painter should think very seriously about entering due to 
  • the high quality of the non-members exhibits; and
  • the scope to attract commissions for future portraits.
Below you can find:
  • Exhibition Details 
  • Prizes & Awards - The exhibition includes some high value prizes and awards, open to all participating artists 
  • Your chances of getting exhibited
  • WHY you SHOULD enter the exhibition if you are a serious portrait painter 
  • Summary of the Call for Entries
    Smaller paintings and drawings mainly from the open entry in the 2018 Exhibition


    2019 Annual OPEN Exhibition


    • Venue: Mall Galleries, the Mall London SW1 - across all three galleries due to its size.
    • Dates: The exhibition lasts just over two weeks
      • Opens: Thursday 9th May 2019 
      • Closes at 5pm on Friday 24th May 2019 
    • Hours: Open to the public every day from 10am - 5pm 
    Entry to the RP Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries
    Entry to the RP Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries

    2019 Prizes


    Winner of the Ondaatje Prize 2018
    Mette by James Hague
    The exhibition includes several prizes and awards, open to all participating artists.
    The prizes (in order of value) include:
    • The Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture: £10,000 plus the Society’s Gold Medal - awarded for the most distinguished portrait in the Society’s annual exhibition
    • The de Laszlo Foundation Award: £3,000 plus a Silver Medal for the most outstanding portrait by an artist aged 35 years or under
    • The RP Award: a £2,000 prize for portraiture 
      • All works shown in the Annual Exhibition will be eligible. 
      • winner will be the artist whose work best represents the year's chosen theme - ‘Skin'. 
      • The judges will be looking for new / interesting / surprising / engaging interpretations of the idea of ‘Skin’ within the parameters of portraiture. 
    • The Prince of Wales's Award for Portrait Drawing: £2,000 and framed certificate for a portrait in any recognised drawing medium
    Em and Bruno by Anna Pinkster


    Reasons why you should enter the RP's annual exhibition


    For those wondering why they should submit an entry to this exhibition, take a look at the following.

    Entry is digital

    If you are an international artist or one who does not live near London, you only need to go to the expense of framing and transport if invited to progress to the second stage of selection.

    The Importance of Exhibitions to Portrait Commissions

    Take a look at my 2015 post Top 10 portrait painters - and a commissions checklist - which highlights that this exhibition generates a LOT of portrait commissions. This exhibition is very much a marketing shop window.

    Exhibiting artists are invited to display additional material

    An expert Commissions Consultant service runs throughout the show

    Some significant prizes


    A prestigious exhibition and an Online Exhibition

    • This is a very prestigious exhibition and is run in all three galleries at the Mall Galleries on the Mall in London.
    • The exhibition is also put online so it can be seen all over the world 

    A changing exhibition

    I've been noting how much this exhibition has changed for the better in the last couple of years
    The reason for the curious title is that this year the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters has
    • finally lost its stuffed shirts
    • included more portraits of women
    • improved its hang
    • and members have painted portraits as interesting as the open entry!

    Why it compares favourably to the BP Portrait


    My 2016 blog post Comparison of the RSPP Open and BP Portrait Award Competition which analysed the similarities and differences and concluded that more artists should submit to this Open.
    However this exhibition has become more competitive as the number of artists submitting have increased in recent times.

    Self portraits exhibited in the Main Gallery (2018)


    Exhibition Metrics in 2018


    The good news and the bad news

    • the good news: around half the artwork in the show is NOT by a member
    • the bad news: less than 5% of the open entry gets selected for the exhibition
    • the good news: which is better than the percentage selected for the BP Portrait Award!
    • the bad news: however this open entry is now more competitive than the RA's Summer Exhibition!

    Standards of competition within the RSPP open entry 

    For the 2018 exhibition we had the very odd situation where

    The big change in 2018 is fewer artists were being selected and more are being invited - which I guess is another form of selection

    220 works were hung in this exhibition of which 111 works (50%) were by members. The ratio of members' work to non-members averages out at around 50:50 in recent years.
    • No. of non-member artworks and artists: 109 artworks were exhibited by 92 non-member portrait painters
    OPEN ENTRY:
    • over 2,000 entries were submitted by non-members
    • 90 works were selected from the OPEN ENTRY and exhibited by 69 artists 
    • The percentage selected via the open entry is less than 4.4% (based on an entry of at least 2,000). This is a reduction on last year due to the increase in artists invited to show a work.
    • The average number of selected paintings per selected artists: 1.3 - most just have one although a few have two or three - typically those who are moving up the ladder towards being invited to be a member
    Small works in the 2018 exhibition



    Call for Entries


    This is an OPEN EXHIBITION. Artists are invited to submit works for exhibition alongside members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters at their Annual Exhibition 2018.
    • All entries are via digital submission 
    • The deadline for entries is 12 noon on 18th January 2019
    • The entry fee is £18 per work (or £12 per work for artists aged 35 or under), which includes Free Admission to the exhibition (normally £4).
    • Details of how artists can apply via the open entry process are set out below.
    The Selection Committee is formed of artist members of the RSPP and rotates annually.

    NOTE: The change in entry fee is universal across all FBA exhibitions and is not unique to the RI. Payment of the entry fee also brings fee entry to the exhibition for those submitting entries.

    Who can Submit?


    Any artist - over the age of 18 - living anywhere in the world can submit artwork to this exhibition.

    What you can submit


    • Media: any medium including original prints but excluding sculpture and photography.
    • Number: a maximum of three works (of which a maximum of three will be selected)
    • Dry: Paintings MUST be completely dry at the time of delivery.
    • Size: Works should not be larger than 2.4m along the longest dimension.
    • Age: Work must have been completed in the last three years
    • Exhibitions: Work must not have been exhibited in London previously.
    • Price & VAT: 
      • The minimum price is £300 (Works can NFS - not for sale).
      • The price of works must include commission of 45%+VAT irrespective of whether the artist is registered for VAT
      • Minimum sale price: Works may be ‘NFS’ if commissions – if your work is not for sale, please input the price as ‘0’ when prompted.
    • Artists from outside the UK may need to register for VAT, please check with HM Revenue and Customs: https://www.gov.uk
    • Delivery: 
      • Packaging from delivered works cannot be retained 
      • Wrapping materials MUST be taken away at the point of delivery
      • The Gallery is unable to wrap works or provide wrapping materials for any works being returned.

    Generic Information about submitting to the Annual Exhibition 2019

    This is the standard information relevant to any exhibition at the Mall Galleries by a society which is a member of the Federation of British Artists. The General Terms and Conditions are universal. The ones which are specific to this exhibition are in "What you can submit" above

    How to Submit


    The process works as follows
    • Read the general terms and conditions
    • Read the specific entry requirements
    • Register for digital submission - if you have never entered before 
    • Login to the Open Exhibition Entry website
      • Submit your entry ONLINE - You need to complete the form, pay the fee and upload images of work before Friday 18 January 2019, 12 noon 
      • [Note: Images must be in JPEG format and under 5MB] 
    • Pre-selection is based on online entries and associated digital images 
    • Notification of Pre-selection - Tuesday 25 January 2019, 12 noon (Log in to http://mallgalleries.oess.uk to see if your work has been pre-selected) 
    • Deliver pre-selected entries on Saturday 23 February 2019, 10am to 5pm to Mall Galleries, 17 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5BD for final selection 
    • Final selection - in front of a Panel of Members of the RI 
    • Notification of Acceptance Tuesday 26 February 2019, 12 noon- via checking this page to see if your entry number is listed 
    • Collect work not accepted for exhibition from Mall Galleries, 17 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5BD on Thursday 28 February, 10am – 5pm 
    Other key dates:
    • Exhibition: 9th - 24th May (10am - 5pm) plus late night opening, until 7pm, on Tuesdays (14 & 21 May)
    • Collection of unsold work: Thursday 30 May 2019, 10am - 5pm 
    The selectors' decisions are final and no feedback is offered.


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    More about Past Annual Exhibitions of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters


    2018

    You can still see selected works by members from the 2018 annual exhibition online

    2009-2016


    Posted by Making A Mark on Tuesday, October 23, 2018
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