RSMA Annual Exhibition 2025 - Award winners and Catalogue

I'm very pleased to report that one of the art societies at the Mall Galleries - the Royal Society of Marine Artists - has opened its annual exhibition - with ALL relevant information online.

Royal Society of Marine Artists - cover of Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition 2025
at the Mall Galleries

I spent the first few years of reviewing annual exhibitions by FBA Societies asking Presidents and officers why they didn't have all relevant information online at the start of the exhibition e.g.

• prizewinners - as soon as they are announced
• events during the exhibition - before they happen
• how to see the the catalogue - for those who could not visit - or might be tempted to (see below)
• how to buy the artwork - for those who could not visit

A lot of progress has been made in the years since - notably all the artwork now being online before the exhibition and also available for sale - but it's still irritating to see when marketing opportunities are lost for both art society and artists.

Hence, it's a real pleasure to go to the Mall Galleries website this morning and find everything I want to see on the RSMA page - BEFORE I visit the exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists today!

A review of the exhibition will follow either tomorrow or at the weekend.

The Royal Society of Marine Artists | Annual Exhibition 2025 is at the Mall Galleries between 17th and 27th September 2025 (10am to 5pm)

• Admission £6, Free for Friends of Mall Galleries and under 25s. Concessions available.
• No booking required.
• You can see - and buy - all the artwork online here
• You can view the Events Programme
• You can view the artwork of all the award winners online - see below
• You can see entries for all the artwork selected in the catalogue - see below.

and so.....

Award Winners at the Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition

You can find the images of the artwork and the names of the artists that won prizes 

• on the Mall Galleries website - Click the "View Award Winners" button on this page
• in the catalogue - see below

The latter means that some of the award winners must have been chosen some time in advance because of the time required to set up and print a catalogue.

Catalogue of the RSMA Annual Exhibition 2025

You can buy the catalogue or read the e-catalogue without visiting the exhibition.

Most of the FBA societies now use Issuu to provide a very pleasing e-catalogue online for viewing all the pages in the catalogue - including the lists of all all the artwork. 

Examples of work by non members

The online catalogue is particularly useful for those thinking of applying in future as it gives you a good sense of 

• not only some of the artwork by non members - and the media used 
• but also the pricing by non members who were selected (ie those artists without RSMA after their name in the list of artworks at the end).

I noted that it seems many artists people have become more realistic in pricing of late - but I'll look at this in more detail in a subsequent post about sales.

One more thing....security!

One more thing which does still need fixing!

The website of the Royal Society of Marine Artists is INSECURE.

As in its prefix is http rather than https - meaning 

• Google will look down its nose at it and will not give it a high ranking in its search listings 
• it's not a great idea to link to it.

Or as Google's AI Overview puts it

You need the https prefix to encrypt your communication with a website, using the secure protocol Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) to protect your data from eavesdropping and tampering. This security is provided by an SSL certificate and ensures your information, such as passwords and payment details, remains private between your browser and the server. In addition to user trust and data integrity, search engines like Google prioritize HTTPS-secured sites, which can also improve your website's search engine ranking.

By and large I usually make it a rule now never to look at http websites.

Best to stick to the Mall Galleries website for the exhibition where you can now find all you need to know - until RSMA invests in a new website!

Lalique, Shell Posters by famous artists and Mary Fedden

One of the thing I enjoy doing most is looking at Auction Catalogues online - particularly for art auctions - for two primary reasons:

• you can see artwork and made objects which are often never seen in art exhibitions at the major or minor galleries (i.e. they've disappeared into private collections and only reemerge when sold)
• the estimates in the catalogues provide a benchmark for relative values of art. 

If for no other reason, those pricing and selling art should pay attention to what's competing for the attention of buyers in terms of calibre of the artist producing it and the likely auction value.

I'm particularly addressing that comment to those emerging artists who think they need to price high to get taken seriously.  It's wise to remember that serious buyers will also review the opportunity to buy at secondary arts sales/auctions as well as visiting galleries to see new work. 

However those thinking of buying need to review the notes about the additions to the bill after an item has been bought - and note my short summary of the "additions" to the bill which arie after the hammer goes down.

Three auctions at the Mall Galleries this week

I was surprised to see this week that the Mall Galleries seems to be expanding its usual repertoire of exhibitions and events to include art auctions for third party auction houses.

This week (27 April 2021 to 29 April 2021) it's hosting exhibitions related to upcoming Auctions by Lyon & Turnbull as follows:

• Lalique (e-catalogue on Issuu) - by the French glass artist René Lalique (1860-1945) who was particularly noted for his art deco pieces - and what's on offer includes some amazingly beautiful pieces
• MODERN MADE | Design on the Move - which includes a lot of the old Posters from the Shell Heritage Art Collection - many of which were by famous/well-known artists of the 20th century such as Paul Nash, John Piper, Graham Sutherland, Edward Bawden etc.
• MODERN MADE | Modern Art & Post-War Design - which includes works by Mary Fedden, Dame Elizabeth Frink, lithographs by LS Lowry etc

It makes for an eclectic mix of styles and artworks.

The Mall Galleries is NOT advertising these as exhibitions which can be visited.

Instead the Mall Galleries website is being used as a gateway to the Lyon & Turnbull website 

• the invitation is to view the lots online
• The artworks can be viewed by appointment 

and the physical entity of the Galleries is being used to hold the auctions.

Which leaves me wondering what exactly can be viewed by appointment. 

• Are the artworks on display in galleries - as happens at leading auction houses?
• Or do you have to identify the pieces you want to see and these are extracted and made available for viewing?
• Or given a number of them which are fragile (there's a huge amount of glassware) and/or will not be firmly attached to the wall in frames, do they just not have enough staff to "police' visitors?

The reason I ask is because of the sheer quantity of items in the auctions - see the online display of lots and the various e-catalogues below. The total of 532 lots will be stretching the now reduced capacity of the Mall Galleries (i.e. the end room of the North Gallery is no longer available)

The auctions are as follows

• Lalique (106 lots - mainly glass) - Thursday, 29th Apr 2021 14:00 - see e-catalogue on Issuu
• MODERN MADE | Design on the Move (49 lots) - 29th Apr 2021 18:00
• MODERN MADE | Modern Art and Post War Design (382 lots) - Friday 30th April 10am 
• - see the combined MODERN MADE e-catalogue on Issuu

Famous names in the auctions include: Rene Lalique, Paul Nash, Edward Bawden, Dame Elizabeth Frink, 

Note that all prices EXCLUDE 

• the reduced rate of 5% VAT on the hammer price
• the 25% premium paid on purchase
• plus the VAT on the premium
• plus 4% of the value of an artwork exceeding over €1,000 - which is due to all artists who can receive the artist resale royalty ( living artists and those who have died in the last 70 years) on secondary sales via an art gallery or dealer

On an artwork estimated to fetch £2,000 this could add (I estimate) 50 + 500 + 25 + 80 = £2,655 (i.e. around a third more than the hammer price) prior to transport and insurance.