Apologies for this late review of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2026.
Post shoulder replacement sirgery, I'm still one finger typing - with the index finger on left hand holding down the shift key periodically - which is frustrating. Plus I ended up very tired from all my necessary outings last week and seem to be having another spate of surgery brain week this week - which makes getting started and writing anything difficult!
So this is going to be a short post. I may add to it later as I remember points I've forgotten!
If you'd like to see this exhibition, it's on at the Mall Galleries until Tuesday 19th May.
It comprises 208 paintings and drawings.
You can see
- who won the awards in this blog post Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2026 | Award Winners
- my photos of the exhibition in albums on my Facebook Page. I try to snap every portrait in the exhibition - and then split them into albums by location
Just the West Gallery to go..... this is what it looked like last Sunday
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| view of the West Gallery |
Key Points of Difference
I'm going to summarise what I saw as being the main differences from previous exhibitions- It was another diverse and well hung exhibition. However it was only after I left and I started thinking about what was different that I realised the look of most of the exhibition has moved a very, very long way from the "stuffed shirt" main gallery that used to be the norm for very many years i.e. lots of commissioned portraits of eminent people in the government, forces, courts and education in very formal poses.
- there are still formal commissions - but most are so much more relaxed. Particularly as there are so many more women being portrayed in commissions! I particularly liked the two large portraits below - both by Jamie Routley RP
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Two large naturalistic portraits by Jamie Routley (left) Les Soeurs (The Sisters) by Jamie Routley RP Oil on linen, 100x110cm (105x115cm framed) (right) The Winding Stair - Jesse Norman MP by Jamie Routley RP Oil on linen, 105x105cm (110x110cm framed) |
- In part, I think this might well be because the artists are encouraging their clients to think out of the box rather than repeat "same as the last whoever" type portraits
- it really helps those who potentially want to commission - and make no mistake, this is primarily a marketing exhibition for RP members.
- I highly recommend, if there is no potential client in the commissions room at the back of the north Gallery that you have a look at the Commission Portfolio files if you want to see the range and calibre of artist on offer for potential commissions.
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| Portfolios for member artists and potential commissions |
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| East Gallery - the Candidates Wall |
- The East Gallery is a very high standard - and includes two former BP Portrait Award winners who are not RP members as artists selected from the open entry
- Wim Heldens (2011) - who I never met as I was "painting in Provence" - see Review: BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2011
- Craig Wylie (2008) - see Craig Wylie wins BP Portrait Award 2008 - which I remember very well as it was my first BP Portrait Awards night and the Chinese artist who won Young Artist of the Year beamed at me and said he read my blog before he tried again after missing out on selection the previous year!
- There's a fourth in the West Gallery! (see below)
- NOTE: There are three more BP Portrait Award winners in the exhibition - who are all RP members (Now HSF Award)
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| The two small paintings by the two former BP winners via the open entry are on this wall |
- If you want to get noticed paint a very old artist. Which is what Neale Worley NEAC RP did in painting the centenarian figurative painter and multi award winner Anthony Eyton OBE RA RWA RWS - who is 103 next Sunday adnd has been painting for nearly 90 years! Neale won the President's Award for his effort. It's a very good painting - Anthony visits the Mall Galleries periodically and I saw him recently. Neale has also made a film about him.
Neale Worley NEAC RP
Oil on canvas, 117x86cm
- If you've just slipped out of the limelight when it comes to portraits - paint a portrait. You can see Tai Shan Shierenberg's self portrait in the West Gallery. He's also a former winner of the BP Portrait Award in 1989 (which is a bit of a subtext of this post). Very oddly, this portrait is not part of the Online Gallery nor is it listed in the Catalogue. Which means, I assume it was a late entry?
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| Self portrait by Tai Shan Shierenberg. |
- There are 20 Chinese artists exhibiting artwork - which also gives the exhibition a very different feel. In particular it gave a sense of the vastness of China and the differences in the people who live there.
To coincide with the Chinese Year of the Fire Horse, the Society welcomes Shengxinyu Art, its director, Zhang Hongbin and twenty-four Chinese artists as guest exhibitors to this year's annual exhibition.
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| Two Chinese artists (left) Prayer in the Wind No.1 by Luzhou Chen Oil on linen, 60x80cm (100x80cm framed) |
- The Chinese artist made a significant contribution to the Monochrome Drawing Wall which is always a feature of this exhibition
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| The Monochrome Drawing Wall in the North Gallery |
- There's a very high standard of candidates for membership this year - who, in turn, are demonstrating a very diverse range of styles. I wouldn't be surprised if more rather than less are chosen.
- I'd be very very surprised if Jeannie Kinsler doesn't get membership. Her style of painting is both very different and very attractive to those wanting a more contemporary feel. She's also superb and capturing people - including children - accurately. Which reminds me, getting a portrait of your children is one of the reasons people commission portraits!
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| Candidate for Membership: Jeannie Kinsler |
Portraits I particularly liked
I like it when RP members show us 'their workings". Benjamin Sullivan RP showed us three small portraits which are obviously prep for three larger portraits of of three well known actors. From left to right: Damien Lewis, Mathew Macfadyen and Benedict Cumberbatch. |
Three small NFS prep paintings for three larger portraits of three actors Oil on panel 14x9cm (40x24cm framed) |
I loved Toby Wiggins RP's portrait of Ronald Blythe (1922-2023) the writer and essayist - who wrote Akenfield (which will resonate with anybody who appreciates rural life). I always think of Toby as "the rural painter par excellence". What I enjoyed was the perspective and the colour or how to look both a bit weird and be spot on - plus I love the cat!
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| The View in Winter; Ronald Blythe in his study at Bottengoms Toby Wiggins RP Oil on canvas, 135x100cm (140x105cm framed) |
and finally - I thought this was a VERY impressive exhibit by John Wonnacott CBE RP (honorary) -
I really identified with the post foot surgery situation, which I experienced myself four years ago when I had my ankle fusion for my bone on bone ankle. I vividly remember that "must not put your foot to the ground for six weeks" and "elevate as much as you can to reduce swelling and pain"!
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| Two "Blue Foot" paintings and three drawings of his wife Anne after foot surgery by John Wonnacott |
It just goes to show portraits don't have to be a vertical of an individual from the chest up!
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