Thursday, June 18, 2026

Review: New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2026

This is a very late review of the 2026 Annual Exhibition of the New England Art Club (NEAC) - which celebrates the 140th Anniversary Exhibition, which also remembered some of its past members.

NEAC 2026: The end of the West Gallery

I particularly liked the way that they included the surnames of past members on the title page of the Catalogue and also had paintings in the show by past member Paul Nash.

Title Page of the NEAC 140th Exhibition Catalogue

The 140th Annual Exhibition has 396 artworks and is on at the Mall Galleries until 20th June.

For some reason I didn't have the PV in my diary last week and since then my diary has been packed with hospital appointments.

However, on Monday, after the first physio date this week, I got myself to the Mall Galleries early and managed to see the exhibition with very few other people there - which is the way I like it. I can then see the art rather than people looking at art. PVs are a dreadful time to try and take pics of an exhibition!

You can see the results in the three Facebook albums I've created on my Making A Mark Facebook Page


First five photos in the album about the NEAC Exhibition
in the West Gallery

Observations

Overall, I thought this was an exhibition which included some really excellent artwork - but could also have looked better than it did. It impressed - in part.

This is a review which reflects my likes and dislikes. I find I'm repeating myself each year. So this year my review is shorter than usual.

The Hang

There's an awful lot of artwork - 396 artworks in total - all without the benefit of the dividers which are used in most other exhibitions.

There is absolutely no question that usually the artwork hung in the West Gallery looks better when it can be hung without dividers. However those that do this most effectively are also those who limit the number of artworks hung. (For example, the RP had a stunning exhibition in 2025 - but limited artworks hung to just over 200)

Given the 396 artworks in the show, some were very large and there were a lot of medium large / large artworks in the show.
  • some were hung in columns of four artworks. I have to be frank I am not a fan.  I'd far rather see a much better selection and the artwork hung properly eg two rows is fine - and three if they are small - but this exhibition is overstuffed.
Stacking the art - five rows high
  • I'm a fan of the notion that a member artist is allocated a defined space on the wall as opposed to a number of artworks. The submission form needs to demonstrate they have not exceeded their allowance. Hence if they paint big they have to reduce the number of artworks they submit. It seems to work with the RA at the Summer Exhibition (eg Hockney traded getting the whole of the end wall for the absolutely enormous Bigger trees near Water not submitting work for two summer exhibitions)
  • some artworks which were big were also very boring. I'm not going to be nasty and say which I mean, but I'm guessing others who have seen the exhibition or looked at my pics can work it out. Again I'm not a fan of muddy colours.
My personal favourite for a good hang was the North Gallery. I particularly liked the way the first gallery up the stairs was used (on the right) to feature the Candidates for Membership and the NEAC Scholars - who I thought got rather a lot of space compared to past exhibitions. I thought it was a good statement of what NEAC is about.

(Left) Part of the Candidates Wall
(right) NEAC Scholars work

Prices and Sales 


56 paintings have sold to date - which is about 14% of those hung. Only 6 of these were priced above £2,500 and none above £5,000. 
  • Most of these are small and come within what I'd call "affordable art". 
    • My personal opinion is that very many artists fail to remember that those who buy art are often like those who attend auctions. They go with a maximum figure in mind and decline to be tempted above that. I've written many times about what I think those figures are - and will write again when I review the exhibition metrics.
    • Twenty of the sold paintings were priced at £500 and below. My most frequent observation about annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries is that 20-25% of all artwork priced at £500 and below will walk off the walls. It's my mental price hurdle (mainly because of no space for more art on my walls!) and I think very many think along the same lines
I'm not in the least bit surprised that the two monochrome artworks which were reasonably priced and won drawing prizes both sold

Bowyer Drawing Prize 2026
"Entanglement, Early Spring" by Lucy Langford
Charcoal
  • A number of artworks have what I regard as totally pretentious prices. Maybe these are the prices an artist sells for elsewhere - and hence I know price bands must be maintained for this show. However, I must confess I often tend to look at and think of these works as ones which are maybe too large to shift via other galleries and hence get submitted to the NEAC Exhibition. 
By way of context this is what I said in my "Call for Entries" post about this exhibition under the heading "The need for NEAC to have a BIG Rethink"
  • the size of artwork to hang in their exhibition
    • I'm thinking of doing an exhibitions metrics post for this exhibition which will relate size to price to sales. Should be interesting!
  • the price of artwork hung in their exhibition
    • there are some artists who sell well elsewhere and on commission - and they aren't going to sell anything at this exhibition unless they paint small - but just because they need to price high doesn't mean everybody else should!! I'd want to see verifiable records as evidence for all those pricing above £2K
  • how many artworks a member can submit i.e. the space given to artists
    • one very large artwork = 4 medium sized artworks. Is that fair?
    • retail prices everything on space - why not exhibitions?
    • there are some artists who sell well elsewhere and on commission - and they aren't going to sell anything at this exhibition unless they paint small - but just because they need to price high doesn't mean everybody else should!! I'd want to see verifiable records as evidence for all those pricing above £2K
  • an artist's track record on sales relative to the space they get
    • Everybody needs to make money from the exhibition - to keep the gallery and the society going and to make artists' careers worthwhile - and able to afford their membership fees!
    • Anybody thinking open artists are just "pleased to get hung" hasn't been studying the commercial realities of late.
    • a commercial gallery would be looking at ANY artwork from a commercial perspective - and why should it be any different in the Mall Galleries or NEAC for that matter?can you keep hanging artists that never sell? Independent Fine Art Galleries not far from the Mall certainly wouldn't.
    • I am amazed again and again when I ask leading members about sales how totally unaware they are of their own society's exhibition metrics
I don't think that "big think" has occurred. Hence I'm not very inclined to ponder on this exhibition at length until NEAC shows it's thinking more about how best to get good results for all artists - both members and open artists - AND THE PUBLIC WHO BUY ART.

In other words, HOW can they do better rather than repeating "more of the same"?

Awards and Prizes

You can read who won which prize - and see the artwork too - on the news item about Prizes and Awards 2026 on the NEAC website.

Monochrome artwork did well. Indeed this is an art society which particularly likes those who engage in contemporary drawing and tackle unusual subject matter.

One which did well is Simon Page who won The Climate Emergency Prize (£2,000) for an artwork which addresses the climate crisis

The Climate Emergency Prize
End of Babel by Simon Page


REFERENCE

Below you can see my reviews in previous years
I've been trying to work out how to word this review of the 2013 Annual Exhibition of the New English Art Club 2013. It might more accurately be described as a post mortem.

I've come to the conclusion that it's best just to highlight a salutary tale which is relevant to all art societies. They all have their ups and downs - and this is a tale of a big dip. Review: NEAC Annual Exhibition 2013




Posted by Making A Mark on Thursday, June 18, 2026
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