Wednesday, January 24, 2024

FINAL Call for Entries: Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2023

The Royal Society of Portrait Painters seeks submissions of new and traditional artistic models and perspectives in portraiture from international artists.

This is about:the annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters - and why it's a good idea to enter
  • who can enter
  • what you can enter
  • how to enter
  • the timeline of important dates
[ PROFUSE APOLOGIES: I thought this post was published but somehow or other it got stuck in "draft" mode - and the deadline for entries is 12 noon on Friday 26h January 2024 ]

I'm also referencing some other information which I've previously written about which you may well find helpful.



About the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters


The Royal Society of Portrait Painters invites artists from all over the world to submit portraits for its Annual Exhibition in 2024......The total prize fund is £40,000, including The William Lock Portrait Prize (£20,000) and The Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture (£10,000).

The Society welcomes paintings, drawings and original prints including digital/ipad prints from artists over 18, from the UK and internationally.

"The Society’s Annual Exhibition is probably the largest and most significant celebration of contemporary portrait painting in Europe. The show is always selected by a jury of practising portrait painters, no critics, no journalists, no celebrities – just painters."

Reasons why you should enter the RP's annual exhibition

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

Entry is digital

You only need to go to the expense of framing and transport IF invited to progress to the second stage of selection. So entries which do not succeed only incur the expense of the submission fee.

The Importance of Exhibitions to Portrait Commissions

  • This exhibition generates a LOT of portrait commissions. This exhibition is very much a marketing shop window.
  • An expert Commissions Consultant service runs throughout the show
  • Exhibiting artists are invited to
    • display additional material
    • advertise portrait commissions through our Commissions department on which a commission will be payable.
The Commission Area in 2023

Some significant prizes

This is an exhibition with some heavyweight and prestigious cash prizes. It has the most valuable individual prizes awarded by any national art society in the UK.

In total, the cash on offer is worth a total of £36,000. These include awards for younger artists and portrait drawing.
  • The William Lock Portrait Prize: £20,000 for the most timeless portrait with a real feeling for paint and its aesthetic potential
  • 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 Raw Umber Studios Prize value: £2,000 for the most exciting contemporary portraiture lies at the intersection of technical excellence and 
  • The Smallwood Architects Prize for Contextual Portraiture: £1,000 for a portrait in which architectural or interior features play an important part.

A prestigious portraiture exhibition - in central London and online


This is a very prestigious exhibition within the portrait world
  • It fills all three galleries at the Mall Galleries on The Mall in London
  • last year it attracted 4,400 entries to the exhibition - including very many entries from international artists
The exhibition is also put online so it can be seen all over the world.

Why it compares favourably to the BP Portrait and other portrait competitions

  • ALL works selected for exhibition from the Open Entry are chosen by practising professional portrait artists who are full artist members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. The Selection Committee is rotated annually. There are no administrators, sponsors, gallerists, art critics or other such éminence grise who get a say on what gets hung.
  • Your chances of getting exhibited: Exhibition Metrics: I haven't crunched the numbers since 2019 but back then the data analysis I did was as follows 
    • about half the portraits exhibited were by non-members
    • about 5% of the works submitted via the open entry are selected for the open exhibition. (This is a not untypical percentage for a top exhibition and is better than the acceptance rate for BP Portrait over several years when that was running)
    • a SIGNIFICANT number of artists from overseas submit their work - with an increasing number from Asia
    • your work needs to be VERY GOOD to get selected. I'd go so far as to say it needs to be better than some of the artwork submitted by members!

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 2024.

In summary:
  • All entries are via digital submission
  • The deadline for entries is 12 noon on Friday 26h January 2024 
  • The non-refundable entry fee is 
    • £20 per work payable at the time of submitting 
    • £15per work for artists aged 35 or under
Details of how artists can apply via the open entry process are set out below.
You can also 
Below are two of my blog posts about the Annual Exhibition in 2023.
You can also see images of the 2023 exhibition on my Facebook Page in the following albums

Who can Submit?

  • Any artist - over the age of 18 - living anywhere in the world can submit artwork to this exhibition and be exhibited alongside members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.
  • This exhibition has become increasingly international over the years - and particularly since the demise of the BP Portrait Award

What you can submit

  • Artwork:  all portraits should be based on a sitting or study of the human figure from life. We understand that artists may use photographs for assistance but the primary source should be from life.
  • Media and presentation:
    • any medium including original and digital prints (BUT excluding sculpture and photography).
    • no projections whatsoever on he back of the works
    • Frames or stretchers should be sufficiently substantial to withstand mirror plating with 12mm size 6 screws.
  • Size: MUST NOT be larger than 2.4m along the longest dimension.
    • Number: a maximum of four works - of which a maximum of three will be selected (TIP Save your cash and submit your best three works - but get some input from knowledgeable others as to which are the best three!)
  • Age: MUST have been completed in the last three years
  • Dry: Paintings MUST be COMPLETELY DRY at the time of delivery.
  • Exhibitions: Work must NOT have been exhibited previously.
  • For Sale: You can enter work "not for sale" - use NFS to indicate this
  • Price & VAT: The minimum price is £300 (Use £0 on form for NFS Works).
    • The price of works MUST include commission of (45% + Standard Rate VAT@20%) irrespective of whether the artist is registered for VAT i.e. the VAT relates to a sale via commercial gallery VAT registration)e.g. for a painting priced at £1000 the deduction by the gallery equals commission of £450 and VAT on commission on £90 = TOTAL deduction of £540
    • meaning the artist is paid £460
    • from which the artist must then deduct the costs of the materials, frame, the courier / transport to the exhibition, materials and a contribution to studio overheads)
  • Artists from outside the UK need to register for VAT if exhibiting work for sale.
    • Please check with HM Revenue and Customs: https://www.gov.uk .
    • VAT on art imported into the UK for sale is 5%.
Packaging from delivered works cannot be retained and must be taken away at the point of delivery. To see delivery & shipping options, please click here.

How to Submit

The submission fee (which includes free admission to the exhibition - normally £5) is
  • £20 per work for standard entries and
  • £14 per work for artists aged 35 or under.
The entry process works as follows (further details re. international artists are also below)
  • Read the generic terms and conditions - which are applicable to all art society exhibitions at the Mall Galleries
  • Read the specific entry requirements for this exhibition
  • International artists should note in particular the requirements re Money Laundering Regulations and VAT
  • Register for digital submission on the OESS website - if you have never entered before
  • Login to the Open Exhibition Entry website (login screen)
  • Submit your entry online prior to the deadline of noon on 26th January 2024. You need to complete the form, pay the fee and upload images of work
  • Images must be in JPEG format and under 5MB
  • Pre-selection is based on online entries and associated digital images
  • Notification of Pre-selection: Friday 7th February, 12 noon
  • Deliver pre-selected entries ONLY to Mall Galleries, 17 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5BD for final selection on Saturday 2nd March, 10am to 5pm
  • Final selection - in front of a Panel of Members of the RP
  • Notification of Acceptance: noon on Tuesday 5th March
  • Collect work not accepted for exhibition from Mall Galleries, 17 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5BD on Thursday 7th March, 10am to 5pm*
  • Collect unsold work: Thursday 23rd May, 10am to 5pm** any work uncollected by 5pm will be removed and stored at a separate location for which artists will be charged a storage fee.

International Entries

  • All international submissions will be selected ONLINE ONLY, therefore selected international artists will need to ship their work to the gallery on a date to be announced. Please note that if selected international works arrive damaged, with unacceptable framing, or not as illustrated, they may be rejected.
  • Artists sending work from abroad should use a picture carrier. Many artists use Picture Post Art as they offer a packing and delivery service for our exhibitions (we do not accept any liability for their services). Picture Post Art - Tel: 07833 450788 / Email: info@picturepostcompany.co.uk
  • Register for VAT if selling work by an international artist: If you are NOT a UK resident and your work is sold at the exhibition you have a responsibility to register and account for UK VAT with H.M. Revenue & Customs at www.hmrc.gov.uk (HM Revenue & Customs Reference: Notice 700/1).
The selectors' decisions are final and no feedback is offered.

The Last 13 Years: Past Annual Exhibitions (2009-2023)


Posted by Making A Mark on Wednesday, January 24, 2024
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