Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Review: The 127th Annual Exhibition of The Pastel Society

The 127th Annual Exhibition of The Pastel Society starts another year of annual exhibitions by the leading national art societies who are members of the Federation of British Artists - and hold all their annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries. It's on until 7th February 2026.

For those who don't know, I'm an avid fan of pastels and pastel artwork and used to also produce pastels and exhibited at the Pastel Society in the 90s.

Facts about the exhibition - and how to see it


This is an OPEN exhibition and is not limited to work by members and it contains 377 artworks in.....
All types of pastel including: soft pastel, hard pastel, oil pastel, ink pastel, water-based pastel, conté crayons or sticks, sanguine, and other dry mediums that are similar in their application including charcoal, chalk, and pencil.
You can see the exhibition at the Mall Galleries until 7th February 2026.
  • Open every day (10am-5pm)
  • Admission £7, Free for Friends of Mall Galleries and under 25s. Concessions available. No booking required.

You can also see the artwork as follows

The Pastel Society 127th Annual Exhibition 2026
Cover of The Pastel Society Catalogue for the 127th Annual Exhibition
A week ago I attended the Private View - and that's when my problems started - and why this review has taken so long to write. 

A very popular Private View

It was very crowded and I was unable to sit down. I'd noticed a slight problem with my feet before I went - but standing up for two hours and not moving much really lacerated them. I had problems walking home, even more when I removed my shoes and I couldn't really walk very much for the next 2-3 days. Needless to say - but I will - with my mobility issues, I do not mess about when my feet scream very loudly at me!

I managed to photograph the artwork in the East and North Galleries at the beginning of the PV. So I returned on Sunday intending to do the West Gallery - but ended up talking (and sitting) for a long time with both the President and the Vice President - which was really interesting!

So I then went back AGAIN yesterday - and this time 
  • I saw the exhibition properly i.e. not so full of people that you can't see the art as happened at the PV, 
  • photographed the West Gallery - to be uploaded very soon
  • started making my notes about the exhibition - for this review - in the new Apple Journal.
So this is my review....

The 127th Annual Exhibition of The Pastel Society


This post provides you with:
  • events - and when they're on
  • prizes - who won what
  • what's different about the 2025 exhibition
  • what I liked and....
  • ....what I think can be improved

Events - and when they're on


I wrote a post about the Events Programme  last week, after I realised I couldn't walk and wouldn't be visiting the exhibition again last week!

Prizes - who won what


The Prizewinners with their Certificates

This page provides info about the prizewinners.

Winner of The Pastel Society Prize
Sunrise behind Tower Bridge by Benjamin Hope PS NEAC ROI RP RSMA

The top cash prizewinners were
  • Caran d'Ache Prize (£1,000 for the best work in the exhibition as selected by Caran d'Ache) 
  • Pastel Society Prize - £1,000 for the best work by a member, selected by the Pastel Society Council.
  • The Yoshimoto Prize £1,000 for an outstanding work in any dry medium by a non-member.
The one I liked the best was Benjamin Hope's artwork - not least because he seems to have done it on a new kind of wafer thin support. As he's also an oil painter, I'm guessing it is aluminium with some sort of abrasive material mixed in with the gesso.

It's a very simple idea which is very effective. It reminded me somewhat of what Monet used to do with sunrise and sunset on the Thames nearer the Savoy and Westminster.

I'd have hung it somewhere else - where it would have been seen more and better.

Benjamin Hope has been winning awards for absolutely ages. I love his Artist Statement which says "I paint".  I was also amazed to find out when reviewing his "about" page that he also has a PhD in Theoretical Nanoscience from the University of Cambridge, Department of Engineering. I don't mean many artists with that sort of background on my travels!



What's NOT different about this year's Pastel Society Exhibition


It still has lots and lots and lots of landscapes. Nearly 60% of the exhibition has artworks classified as Landscape and City Scape and Marine and Coastal

A great wall of landscapes

More landscapes on the facing north wall of the West Gallery


The other subject matter which is significant is Portraits and Figures at 68 artworks (18%).

What I particularly like is when we get walls which focus on subject themes - such as landscapes or figures or still life

I loved the very strong Still Life wall near the cafe! The fact that all the works were of a similar size and all box framed in a very light/white colour made them have all the more impact.

Still Life by (left) Fiona Carvell and (right) Ian Rawling 

I think on the whole, I'd want to explore the scope for more obvious themes in the hang of some of the more prominent walls which should read well from 30 feet or more. 

There are also lots of familiar names amongst the members, most of whom are still portraying their preferred subject matters in their preferred style. For those that sell well, this is understandable. For those that don't maybe try a different tack? 

I also want to comment on frames - but I'm going to do this in a different post as it's applicable to all art societies.

I think the "Private View" definitely needs a rethink


The Pastel Society needs to remember that a Private View has two main purposes
  • SELLING ART to known collectors who are invited to attend
  • allowing critics to view the art (now absolutely impossible because of the crowds on most PVs at the Mall Galleries - which is why I often have to go twice)
  • artists getting together
A private view (or vernissage) for an art exhibition is a pre-opening event, often held the night before the public launch, designed to showcase work to a curated audience of collectors, critics, and industry professionals. Its purpose is to facilitate sales, encourage networking, provide artists with feedback, and celebrate the installation.
However the PV seems to have morphed into something else. 
  • It continues to be very popular "jolly" and indeed rather too popular. 
  • As there are more and more open artists, there are also more and more family and friends who come to watch but generally don't buy.
Indeed, the numbers who attend PVs ( at various of the art societies) and the lack of seating now deters me from going. I've not attended or walked out early of a number of PVs in the last 18 months. I went to this one because there were artists I wanted to see - but I still left early.

However I've also been to Private Views by other art societies in the last year where the PVs were split out over an entire day - differentiating between
  • the buyers' preview - which only involves known buyers, the Judges and the artists because collectors need to be able to see the art to buy!
  • the Friends only preview - I went to a lovely morning one with tea and pastries and a much more congenial number of people + seats!! I really enjoyed it!
  • the Opening Ceremony / Prizegiving - when the artists friends and family can come too - but the buyers and those who need seats generally avoid
I think it's worth thinking about trying a different approach.

What's different about this year's Pastel Society Exhibition

This exhibition seems to me to a bit of a mixed bag - and I'm still trying to work out why - and I guess I (and you) may find out as I continue to write.

It's is emphatically NOT awful but neither is it excellent as an exhibition as a whole. That said it has some very strong and memorable artwork - both large and small and sequences of artworks which are memorable. 

The Monochrome wall contains diverse subjects
which hang together well on a monochrome theme


One of my rules of thumb for reviewing and judging an exhibition is how well I can remember it afterwards. 
  • I have an excellent visual memory (something approaching hyperphantasia) and can still walk myself round - in my head - exhibitions or art galleries I visited years ago. 
  • However my memory only seems to remember things I like
For me, I know when an exhibition at the Mall Galleries is very good, because I can remember which artworks were there - and where they are hanging in the gallery. (My party piece is about also being able to remember 5 and 10 years later!)

One of the aspects that has struck me, while writing, is that "how well I can remember it" might well be connected to "how well it is hung". 
  • e.g. If a wall is conceived as a strong and well constructed visual image in terms of available artwork - then it resonates much more strongly with me.
  • If it is what seems to me a jumble - disconnected and unrelated - I struggle to read the wall, as a physical image, and hence to remember it. In effect, a bit the same as an artwork which had a muddled composition. I often refer to this as "art which makes my eyes hurt". 
I always think of the end wall in the West Gallery as the "Wowsers Wall" - i.e. this is the wall which you see from the top of the stairs which - when hung well - stimulates you to walk right the way across the entire gallery to see the artwork better.

It just didn't deliver for me. First of all I couldn't see it from the stairs because there was a barrier in front of me!

I had to move to the centre of the mezzanine to take this pic
- because my usual view from the top of the stairs blocked the left hand side

It also didn't tell a colour story. Nor did it tell a thematic subject matter story. Instead it seemed to be a "bit of everything". For me, it just didn't "read". Although I continue to love 'The Pastel Society" decal! I kept looking at it and looking at it just didn't get it. That's not to say the artwork was poor but rather:
  • the artwork did not mix well
  • it was much too crowded (in contrast to the far wall in the East Gallery which had too few large and/or "come hither" artworks - which read clearly - see below also)
  • there was no visual flow
In some of the other Art Society exhibitions (eg ROI) this end wall is used to hang artwork on the chosen theme for that year - which creates a visual story to the wall.

I'm not loving this year's end wall

What was odd was that the East Gallery also failed the "come hither" test
This is by far the weakest wall I've seen opposite the stairs in a long time
(Tip: don't put Candidates work on the wall opposite the entrance to the Gallery!)

I could however see artwork within the show which deserved to be on that end wall of the West Gallery - artwork which reads well in a thematic sense from a big distance. The obvious being the very large work by Matthew Draper - which would work well with 
  • colour themes (such as the Tony Allain luminescent landscapes - next to it below
  • or subject themes with a similar pallette - like "the steps" artworks by Christine Watson (in the corner below)
Left: Veil by Matthew Draper 
next to to two luminescent landscapes by Tony Allain
"Steps" cityscapes by Christine Watson

Query: Why are there two Matthew Draper artworks in the catalogue - but only one on the wall and only one in the online listing?

The new versus the old

I don't remember seeing many amazing new pastel artists. I love it when a new person turns up and stands out from the get go - and then I saw these two trees!

Two pastels of trees by Rowan Crew
a senior member of the RBA

Two of my favourite pastels in the show were these two trees by Rowan Crew - who is a senior member of the RBA, but is not a member of the Pastel Society. I'd be encouraging him to apply - he has a very strong record of exhibiting across various of the FBA societies! (The artworks were commended by others while I was talking to Rowan!)

For the most part though, I saw a number of artwork by older artist members of PS which, to be honest, were  not as confident, strong and well executed as I know they have all produced - in the past. I hasten to add that I have loved their artwork over the years so it's always a disappointment when you see age is just beginning to catch up with an artist.

It does rather suggest that there needs to be a very clear focus on how the Society is renewing itself through new members.

Which is why one of the new aspects of the exhibition is particularly pleasing.....

The new Royal Drawing School Student Prize.

It was pleasing to see that the Pastel Society has struck up a relationship with the Royal Drawing School (RDS) - which has recently started to engage with making art with pastels and indeed making pastels from scratch! (I used to take classes there when I first retired).  RDS was founded by the then Prince opf Wales and is an 
an artist-led, not-for-profit, home of observational drawing.
The PS Invited the students of the RDS to submit artwork for the exhibition - and then three were chosen for the exhibition and the artwork by Maj Lisa Dorig won The Pastel Society RDS Student Prize. She is a Swiss artist and illustrator who completed The Drawing Year (2023-24) at the Royal Drawing School in London.
My work – influenced by the landscapes and cities around me and the stories I gather – layers observation with memory, weaving reality with dream.

Winner of The Pastel Society RDS Student Prize
In the quiet of the water, I find myself
by Maj Lisa Dorig 
(29.5 × 78cm oil pastel, soft pastel and colour pencil on paper)

I noted the drawing was actually a collage of a number of small pieces of art paper.

...and in conclusion


This is a "could do better" exhibition. I think there are multiple factors contributing to various aspects which mean I don't think it is as strong an exhibition by the Pastel Society when compared to ones I've seen in the past.  

While I loved some of the work, I'd also love to see the strong artwork presented better.

My post about exhibition metrics of the Pastel Society - like the one I did last year - about
  • the number of sales and
  • the prices that pastel artwork sold for (I've already seen some very silly prices on unsold works!)
  • what type of art sold
  • which artists did well
will follow after the exhibition closes.

More posts about Pastel Society Exhibitions (2006-2025)


Below you can access and review my previous posts about Pastel Society exhibitions during the last 20 years - from my archives.

This was this year's Call for Entries post
As you can see I've reviewed this exhibition every year since 2006!

Posted by Making A Mark on Wednesday, January 28, 2026
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