REVIEW: 80th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists

The quality of most of the 395 artworks in the 80th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists is very high. 

View of some of the artwork in RSMA Annual Exhibition in the East Gallery

You can view all the artwork online - however there is nothing quite like seeing it on the wall

If you can't get to London (and I know many have issues re. time and/or expense), the next best thing is to see it on the wall in my photographs of the entire exhibition which I've been posting on Facebook ever since my visit last week. You can see them here 

• RSMA Annual Exhibition 2025 - East Gallery
  RSMA Annual Exhibition 2025 - North Gallery
• RMSA Annual Exhibition 2025 - West Gallery
• Demonstrations by Roger Dellar, Andrew Hird and and Srirangam Mohankumar

A view which highlights some of the 3D artwork in the East Gallery

My post last week RSMA Annual Exhibition 2025 - Award winners and Catalogue references the catalogue and awardwinners.

Note: I'm afraid I am not linking to the RSMA website as it is insecure (i.e. http prefix only and no security certificate) and it's my policy to not link to sites which may present risks to readers. Hopefully they will get this sorted before my next post about them

Review of the RSMA 80th Annual Exhibition

I always sit and write my comments in the catalogue after doing my first tour round the exhibition - and then add in more comments later after I've been around again. 

However this time I nearly did not get a catalogue for free. Long gone are the days when the people behind the desk at the Mall Galleries are permanent staff who are the same on every visit who greet me because we've known each other for ages. People who know that I both review the exhibition and "drum up" both visitors to the exhibition and entrants for the call for entries in the following year.

Many of the artists who exhibit in exhibitions I review do so because they have heard about those exhibitions from me - and they tell me!  I don't often boast but I have a very long and robust track record of "growing competitive exhibitions" over the last 20 years of blogging MAM. As well as the FBA Shows at the Mall Galleries, these range from the BP Portrait Award - where the entrants grew exponentially and internationally following my comprehensive coverage of it to the RHS Botanical Art Show - which has moved out of the Horticultural Halls and now exhibits at the Saatchi Gallery for several weeks each summer.  

Those running the FBA Exhibitions know that my blog often provides the only decent length review they get. I have had thanks from many Presidents over the year online and in person for the profile I give to the societies. I don't need thanks - I would do it anyway. But it's always nice to be recognised for a constructive contribution - even if it is sometimes is critical of some aspect of a society/exhibition/arrangements. At the end you can find links to past reviews.

But apparently the people at the desk think I need to pay for a catalogue. Yes, I was miffed. Hence the delay in this review because I knew I was going to say something and a little distance seemed judicious....

ANYWAY.... back to the exhibition and the comments in my catalogue

The end wall in the West Gallery

I thought it a very well hung exhibition for the most part. It was helped of course by having 57 fewer artworks in the show compared to last year. 

From my perspective, so long as you don't select lots of large artwork, 400 artworks should be the figure most societies should aim to hang. Less if you want big artwork - of which there was also a lot less in this exhibition.

Mezzanine wall of smaller artworks

However, the main thing I noticed this year is that this an exhibition which is much more "marine" and much less about "boats." So lots of:

• seascapes
• waves and wave formations - by the men and not just the women!
• nature  and wildlife - animals, fish and plants associated with the sea

Although it appears not everybody is happy. This was one comment on the RSMA Facebook Page where my photos were shared.

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!

Analysis of Sales at the RSMA Annual Exhibition 2024

This post about the number of sales and the prices they sold for is specific to the Royal Society of Marine Artists. However it has a number of useful lessons for:

• more than one art society
• members and associates of the RSMA
• ALL those who enter open exhibitions by national art societies in London - and most especially those who exhibit at the Mall Galleries.

The reason I'm writing this post is because I'd like to see:

• more artists do better
• more artists make sales
• more artists improve their annual income from their artwork
• THROUGH more intelligent pricing of their artwork

Bottom line, the most realistic price for your artwork is the price which enables a sale. Otherwise, why bother pricing at all?

So far as I'm aware, I'm the only person who provides detailed analysis across various national art societies and comments on the lessons that can learned - which all can benefit from.

I've no objection to changes to "the rules" being made over time - but I do know that those which are grounded in real numbers and real life are much more likely to be successful over time.

I've established in the past that there's a strong trend which generates lots of sales in the £350-£500 price range. 

The rule which I think curtailed sales in this exhibition was the one which required a minimum sale price of £600 - when there are a lot of people buying art priced below £500.

Read on to find out why....

General commentary on Sales of Artwork

These days art sales are typically generated via

• the associated online website for the artwork - and the fact this goes online before the exhibition in the gallery opens
• sales at the Private View - where it's a common expectation that a goodly proportion of artwork will be sold given this is an opportunity to be nice to collectors!
• sales during the time the exhibition is open to the public.

Sales in the last couple of years have been less than usual due to the constraints on people's budgets.

Number of Sales by Price Range

By the time the RSMA Annual Exhibition closed on 28 September 2024, there had been 57 sales in total (out of 452 artworks in the exhibition) i.e. 12% of artworks "hung" sold.

The analysis in this post is based on those sales.  See my review post for the explanation of how I arrived at these numbers

The remaining unsold artwork remains available for sale on the online art sales pages website

The chart below is based on an analysis of the 57 sales - splitting them by

• the artist as follows:
• RSMA - a full or associate member of the RSMA 
• Open - an artist selected via the Open Entry
• different price ranges - based on prevailing price hurdle (eg 1,000) demonstrated at the Mall Galleries in the past

Analysis of the 57 art sales at the RSMA Annual Exhibition 2024

You can compare 2024 performance to a previous chart from 2020 

Click to see a larger version

NOTE that just 4 years ago:

• there were 56 sales in total of which:
• 17 sales were below £500 
• 48 sales were below £1,500 - and only 40 now in 2024.
• how few sales there were above £2,000 (during the pandemic)
• how the number of open artists selling has improved since 2020

In this context 

• sales in the upper price ranges have improved  since 2020 - but not by much. 
• While the bottom price range (£350-£500) has been completely eliminated by the requirement for a minimum price of £600.

I'm still completely mystified as to the metric evidence which suggested this was a good idea.

RSMA Sales Metrics 2024

I've split my comments between:

• ones related to how one can categorise the artists eg members vs Open; men vs women
• ones related to the price ranges 

Review: Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition 2024

This is a review of the Annual Exhibition 2024 of the Royal Society of Marine Artists - currently exhibiting at the Mall Galleries in London - until 28th September.

The exhibition is has lots of high quality artwork which is well hung and includes paintings (in various media), drawings, prints and sculpture and other 3D media.

Below this post covers

• different ways in which you can see the artwork
• a commentary on some of the aspects of the exhibition - given my commentary on a number of the artworks is contained in my Facebook albums
• an analysis of the sales to date - and a chart which shows these are spread across different price ranges and between members and open artists.

Marine scenes - water, skies and boats!
(East Gallery)

My artist to keep an eye on for the future in this year's exhibition produced the paintings top left and top right - and I was entirely unsurprised that top right sold - given it's a very contemporary painting of expensive yachts in a race at a prestigious event (racing around the Needles - in the Round the Island Race?) AND it's part of an edition of 5 and has been priced just under the £2k hurdle price! This very astute as well as accomplished artist is Alex Poyner and I fully expect her to become an Associate of the RSMA very soon - if she applies......

How to see the artwork online

I took a number of photographs when I visited the exhibition last Friday. This week I've spent a long time eliminating perspective distortions for those too high or too low for my current state of agility - and then uploading them to new Facebook Albums.  

These are the links to my photos of the:

• Artwork in the West Gallery
• Artwork in the North Gallery
• Artwork in the East Gallery

This is the only place - other than actually visiting the exhibition - where you can see the relative sizes of the artwork, which a lot of people find difficult to fathom when seeing artwork without a context and only numbers to guide them.

All my comments about artwork I liked can be found in commentary on artwork in the albums. 

You can also see 

• all the members artwork - in alphabetical order - on the RSMA website. I thought the idea of splitting the alphabet up into four separate pages and then providing clear signposts to different sections was excellent! A very fast solution to getting to see the artwork by the member whose artwork you really like!
• ALL the artwork  - by members and selected from the open entry - on the Mall Galleries website (see Annual Exhibition 2024 )
• if there was one criticism I'd make, it's that this image (below) is VERY BUSY.  The different text - in different fonts, sizes and colours - overlaying artwork makes it quite a challenge to understand quickly. I think it could be done a lot more simply - and that's the challenge I'm issuing for next year!

My comments on a number of matters

Exhibition Commentary 

To be honest, I've not got a lot to say which I didn't say last year (see Review: 78th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists) so, 

• given the context of my new priorities (see I'm back - but slowing down and walking more!) and 
• less time for writing blog posts, 

I'm going to try and be less long-winded and a bit more succinct!

Diversity

This is a very masculine art society. Hence it's always pleasing to see more and more female artists submitting artwork and getting selected. 

Call for Entries: Royal Society of Marine Artists

You might think the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists is just for artists who paint boats - and hence a very niche marketplace - but you'd be wrong. 

Indeed, in my opinion, it's well worthwhile checking out what sort of artwork is acceptable in this exhibition - which attracts a lot of collectors.

The Call for Entries for the next annual exhibition closes at 12 noon on Friday 26 July - so plenty of time to check out whether any of your artwork fits with their criteria and get an online submission completed!

You can check out my review of the last annual exhibition here - Review: 78th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. It includes links to my albums of photos of the exhibition on my Making A Mark Facebook Page

The RSMA leads the way by being:

• the OLDEST marine art society
• the BIGGEST marine art society - in terms of members
• the ONLY marine art society with an online exhibition which opens before and continues after the gallery exhibition.

This is an exhibition which generates a decent level of sponsorship of various awards valued at £10,500.  
 

What is the criteria for entries?

What's the scope of subject matter?

It's NOT just about boats!

The Royal Society of Marine Artists seeks submissions of art inspired by the sea and marine environment, including harbours and shorelines, traditional craft and contemporary shipping, creeks, beaches, wildlife - in short anything that involves tidal water.

• Subject matter MUST be: 
• essentially marine in nature, 
• relating in some way to tidal waters of the world; 
• Subject matter MAY be: topographical, historical, still life, and figure painting are all welcomed.
• Works relating to non-tidal rivers, inland lakes and waterways etc. are NOT ACCEPTED. 

The RSMA Annual Exhibition in 2023 - in the East Gallery

What can you submit?

In reality, most are paintings with some drawings and sculpture and few prints.

• Number of artworks: up to six works - but note that a maximum of four might be selected. Typically it's more often one or two for people new to the exhibition
• Size of artwork: Works should be no larger than 2.4m along the longest dimension.
• Acceptable media: 
• Paint: Oil, acrylic, watercolour, 
• Prints: original prints of any media, 
• Drawings: eg pastels, graphite, charcoal
• 3D/Sculpture
• mixed media, textiles
• Age of artwork: submit new work not previously exhibited
• Essential: All works must be an original creation by the artist
• Sales: 

• All works must be for sale. 
• There is a minimum price per work of £600 - which I said was a BIG mistake last year - and I believe sales were reduced as a result
• Prices for prints should start as 
• framed £325, 
• unframed £200.

In 2021, the vast majority of sales (80-85%?) are artworks were priced at less than £1,000. There were a LOT of buyers for small artwork priced at less than £500.

Last year, 419 artworks were listed in the catalogue. Of these 354 remain listed as unsold on the online website for online sales.

Who can submit entries?

Review: 78th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists

This is a review of the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists  which I visited on Tuesday morning last week - straight after the PV the night before. 

View of the West Gallery with a range of artwork and sizes on display

I'm writing this essentially for three four parties:

• artists interested in marine art and maybe thinking about applying for next year's exhibition
• members of the RSMA (re. framing and pricing)
• the Mall Galleries
• the Royal Society of Marine Artists.

I'll be commenting very specifically on the artworks in the exhibition.

However, some of the comments in my review follow a theme arising from earlier reviews of annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries for the very simple reason it's important and universal. That theme very much relates to the interest rate shenanigans and the cost of living crisis experienced over the last 12 months i.e. fewer people having disposable income or feeling confident about buying and this has an impact on sales and by definition to income of artists.

This morning, I've been reviewing the photos I took and counting the subsequent sales on the website after the ones I counted in the exhibition last week - of which more below.

East Gallery

The morning after the PV turned out, as I hoped, to be an excellent time to take photos without a lot of people in front of the artwork. These will be loaded into albums on my Facebook page where they will 

• either give you an incentive to visit the exhibition
• provide an insight into the type of artwork which gets selected for the exhibition, if you're unable to visit.

These are the links to my photos of the:

• Artwork in the West Gallery
• Artwork in the North Gallery
• Artwork in the East Gallery 

You can also 

• SEE all the Prizewinners on the wall in this FB post and 
• READ about who won what in this news post by the Mall Galleries Royal Society of Marine Artists Exhibition 2023 | Award Winners
• VIEW all the artwork by both members and selected from the open entry online on the Mall Galleries website. Sadly there are no filters so you have to work your way through to see what you want.

The exhibition continues until Saturday 30th September (10am to 5pm) at the Mall Galleries.

BELOW you can find my review of the artwork and a commentary on sales and the price of artwork sold

Review of RSMA Annual Exhibition 2023

Overall, this is an exhibition which continues to impress in terms of the standard of artwork submitted - with particular respect to its execution. There are, in particular, a number of very impressive oil painters. 

The exhibition is also becoming more diverse and is demonstrating a wider range of both subject matter and media over time. 

It also receives a good level of sponsorship which is reflected in the prizes on offer to participating artists - both members and those selected via the open entry.

Subject Matter

This is an open art exhibition which invites artwork about anything that involves tidal waters of the world. 

In other this is NOT about water per se - it MUST be essentially marine in nature i.e. involved with TIDAL water. This includes:

• harbours and shorelines,
• traditional craft and contemporary shipping,
• creeks and beaches,
• wildlife and marine workers
• in short anything that involves tidal water

The range of subject matter on display in the marine art in this exhibition is fascinating. 

One of the key aspects creating and maintaining a successful art society is knowing your audience and how to reach out to them - otherwise you and your members could be out of pocket pretty fast! 

Call for Entries: Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition 2023

This is about the Call for Entries for the Annual Exhibition 2023 of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. It covers:

• Exhibition Dates and Prizes
• Who can enter
• What you can enter
• How to enter

The deadline for digital entries only is 12 noon on Friday 28 July.

One of the walls in the RSMA Annual Exhibition in 2022

The RSMA seeks submissions of art inspired by the sea and marine environment, including harbours and shorelines, traditional craft and contemporary shipping, creeks, beaches, wildlife - in short anything that involves tidal water.

The Exhibition and Prizes on Offer

The RSMA Annual Exhibition 2023 - at the Mall Galleries

The Society's annual exhibition is widely recognised as a showcase for the best in contemporary marine art, with selected work from the open entry hung alongside the work of RSMA members.

The exhibition will be 

• open to the public between 21st - 30th September 2023 
• at the Mall Galleries in London.

There is an invitation only Private View on 20th September. 

If you want to know what it will look like, take a look at some of my reviews of previous exhibitions listed at the bottom of this blog post.

Prizes and Awards

This is an exhibition which generates a decent level of sponsorship of various awards. Notably, unlike most of the art societies exhibiting at the Mall Galleries, the prizes and awards in this annual exhibition are predominantly monetary in nature - with over £9,000 in cash awards and over £350 value in art materials - plus two publication awards

I've categorised them below. You can see what won last year in my post  Royal Society of Marine Artists - Prizes and Awards 2022

Review: The Van de Veldes: Greenwich, Art and the Sea

I've visited the exhibition of The Van de Veldes: Greenwich, Art and the Sea twice now. However while referencing it extensively in relation to the Landscape Artist of the Year Commission, I've added the review to my long list of "things to do/blog about" without striking it off the very long list.

So this is my review.

What's the exhibition about?

The exhibition celebrates two two Dutch Golden Age artists Willem van de Velde the Elder and his son, Willem van de Velde the Younger - some 350 years after they came to Greenwich following an economic meltdown in Holland.

a corner of the exhibition showing both drawings and paintings
by both father and son

It highlights:

• their maritime drawings (by father) and paintings ( by son_ and 
• their connections to both 
• the Netherlands, England and its King in general and 
• Greenwich and the Queens House in particular
• how they influenced other painters - including WM Turner.

It also draws upon the largest collection of the Van de Veldes’ artwork in the world. This is held at the The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich which is recognised as a longstanding centre of Van de Velde expertise.

In addition, the Queen’s House at Greenwich became the home of the studio granted to the two artists by Charles II.

Details of the Exhibition

The exhibition is:

• AT: The Queen’s House, Greenwich - which was designed by Inigo Jones and you may recognise from more than a few historical dramas on film and television!
• BETWEEN: 2 March 2023 – 14 January 2024
• Admission: FREE
• Website: www.rmg.co.uk/van-de-velde

The Queen's House, Greenwich - March 2023

London from Greenwich Hill (1672)
attributed to Johannes Vorsterman 
- a dutch painter who also worked for Charles II
The painting is currently in an exhibition at the Guildhall Gallery, City of London
It shows the Queens House on the extreme left
at the time the Van der Veldes arrived in London
(and which I saw the morning before my second visit!)
Note the ships on the River Thames

Who were the Van de Veldes?

To my mind, this exhibition is much more interesting once you know who the Van de Veldes are and something of the historical context for all the sea battles. This helps to make sense of the diversity of artwork - albeit it's all about ships and battles at sea!

Willem van de Velde the Elder and Willem van de Velde the Younger were the most important and influential marine painters of the seventeenth century. 

Father and son moved from the Netherlands to England after Het Rampjaar, or "the Disaster Year" of 1672 when the Netherlands were invaded or threatened from all sides and the economy crashed. This in turn severely affected the art market. Vermeer, for example, was unable to sell any of his work. 

The Van de Veldes moved to England at the invitation of Charles II. He awarded them:

• a salary equivalent to that of his ‘Principal Painter’, Sir Peter Lely; and 
• a studio at the Queen’s House - where they worked for the next 20 years.

Together, they became the founders of the English school of marine painting - and established a new genre of painting which persists today.

Both remained in London and are buried at St James, Piccadilly.

Willem van de Velde the Elder (1610 - 1693)

Van de Velde the Elder was the son of a Leiden bargemaster who became the official artist of the Dutch fleet for a period. He was a self-taught draughtsman who pioneered the technique of ‘pen painting’, allowing him to capture a ship’s likeness or a naval battle in astonishing detail. He specialised in documenting the action in a Dutch Sea Battle - of which there were more than a few!

Van de Velde the Elder sat drawing the Battle of Scheveningen

- the last battle of the first Anglo-Dutch War - from a ship at sea

- pen and ink (extract from the drawing below)

The Battle of Scheveningen, 10 August 1653
a pen painting or grissaille by Willem van de Velde the Elder
(the boat he's sat in is shown bottom left of centre)

Review: Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition 2022

It's always struck me that Annual OPEN Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists at the Mall Galleries offers more opportunities for entries from a wider range of artists than some might think.

It was therefore very pleasing to see both new names of exhibiting artists and some innovation at this year's exhibition (see end for details of where and when to see it). Interestingly I think the Mall Galleries is going to need to add some new categories into its 'buy art' section of the website to reflect this (e.g. Textile Art!)

The exhibition this year includes artwork by six new Associate Members.

This year I'm writing my review of the exhibition for those who might think about entering it next year. Thus there's rather more detailed commentary on subject and media than usual.

RSMA Annual Exhibition 2022: View of the Mall Wall in the West Gallery

General observations about the exhibition are:

• it appears to be attracting a good number of visitors - based on the numbers I saw on Friday morning (i.e. not the PV and the day after it opened to the public)
• it includes some excellent artwork by artists selected via the open entry - including three large artworks near the stairs

Three large and impactful artworks by open artists

• the range of media included is more diverse than before - some would say (i.e. me) TOO diverse (see below under fine art prints)
• I also think I saw more innovative artwork than I've seen in previous exhibitions. Generally it seems to be less about boats and more about other marine topics.
• There appear to be rather fewer paintings of more traditional/historical ships than I've seen in the past. I know there's a big (male) fan base for these paintings but they've never much appealed much to me. 
• There's still a tendency to include an awful lot of grey - whether that's in the artwork or on the frame. I do sometimes wonder about the obsession with grey - which I don't see in great marine painting by well known marine artists in art history. It's almost as if some marine artists are afraid to look and/or use colour. (PS The interior decorating obsession with grey is over!) 
• What happens when there is too much grey is our eyes are drawn to the colour

End wall, West Gallery

• this is why colourful paintings are always in line with the entrance to the North Gallery - we want to walk towards the colour

Colour draws the eye and makes us walk forward

• I much appreciated the nuances of colour in this painting (below) of winter light at a coastal location by Keith Richens - which can then cope with a grey frame because of the colour. (But grey within grey is too much!)

Winter Light by Keith Richens RSMA

There appears to be more artwork by female artists than ever before - in what has been a genre which has been very dominated by men for a long time. I also counted the RSMA membership

• 51 Members of which 7 are women (14%)
• 13 Associate Members of which 2 are women (15%)
• 4 Life Members of which 2 are women (50%)
• It's not very encouraging to women is it? So well done to all that applied through the open entry and succeeded in getting their artwork selected.

Sadly, this exhibition is also beginning to show evidence of a challenge faced by very many art societies with an ageing membership. 

• I noted rather more artworks by older members of the RSMA which lack the quality and impact that these artists have achieved in the past (giben I've been coming to the exhibition for many years - see below). 
• I watched exhibitions by one FBA art society go downhill very fast when it continued to hang ALL entries by elderly member artists. 
• There are various options for addressing this issue which makes such decisions more amenable to those involved.
• One FBA art society addressed this issue by elevating elderly members to Honorary Retired status - thus allowing them to retire from submissions.
• Another has a Senior Member status which means no subscription to pay - but only one artwork is hung as of right. Others can be submitted but must be subject to selection i.e. they have to make the grade.
• whatever route is taken, if exhibitions are to remain high quality events then selection of artwork by members needs to be considered as an option. The overall aim must always be to have most of the artwork by members looking better than artwork by artists submitting via the open entry.

About marine art

RSMA Annual Exhibition 2022: View of the East Gallery

This exhibition looks to show diverse subjects. techniques and media are all represented to best advantage. (from the introduction on the wall in the East Gallery - which I didn't finish reading until today!)

Subject Matter

This is an open art exhibition which invites artwork about anything that involves tidal waters of the world. In other this is not about water per se - it MUST be associated with the coast and places where tides have an impact

Call for Entries: Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition 2022

The Royal Society of Marine Artists issued its invitations to marine artists to submit entries for for its annual exhibition. It wants to see more art inspired by the sea and marine environment 

This open exhibitions invites submissions of subject matter which MUST be essentially marine in nature i.e. involved with TIDAL water. This includes:

• harbours and shorelines,
• traditional craft and contemporary shipping, 
• creeks and beaches, 
• wildlife and marine workers
• in short anything that involves tidal water.

Paintings of non-tidal rivers, inland lakes and waterways etc are not permissible.

The deadline for entries is noon on Friday 8th July. 

You can find out more on the page providing details about this OPEN exhibition.

I've summarised key points below.

The Exhibition

The RSMA always holds its Annual Exhibition every Autumn at the Mall Galleries in central London. This year the exhibition dates are Thursday 22nd September to Saturday 1st October 2022

Four good reasons to enter

The Annual Exhibition by the Royal Society of Marine Artists

1. People who like boats are often wealthy - meaning they're more likely to have funds to spare to buy artwork!  This is important within the context of an economy where lots of people are being careful about their spending, t
2. This exhibition ALWAYS attracts a lot of people interested in buying marine artwork. This exhibition has typically had very good sales in the past.
3. It ALWAYS has a LOT of decent prizes. You can find out more about them here.
4. Prizes awarded in the past have been dominated by strong work by non-members - which is always good to see for those who submit work via the open entry. 

However, in order to do well, you MUST have and demonstrate a genuine interest in marine art. 

That's because expert and enthusiastic customers also mean those who can spot errors in artwork painted by those new to the subject and/or painting from photographs with no other observational prep. undertaken. I well remember being taken round the exhibition once by somebody who pointed out all the "made-up" paintings - it was a revelation!

This was my Review: Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition 2020 - which also shows you the range, type and quality of artwork on display.

Call for Entries

This is an OPEN EXHIBITION which tends to display paintings, drawings, sculpture and prints.

Below you can find

• a summary of how to enter the next annual exhibition.
• a list of prizes (see end)
• an archive of posts about past exhibitions - which contain a lot of images of the type of artwork that gets selected for exhibition.

What sort of artwork can you submit?

SUBJECT: The RSMA seeks submissions of art inspired by the sea and marine environment. 

 

It makes two statements about the scope - as follows

Two new Royal Art Society Exhibitions in London

There are two new exhibitions by national art societies opening in London this week. These are:

• RSMA Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists at the Mall Galleries 
• RWS Autumn Exhibition of the Royal Watercolour Society at the Bankside Gallery

I'm hoping to visit both of these exhibitions in the near future. 

They both include paintings - but those of the RWS are in water soluble media and the RSMA exhibition at the Mall Galleries includes all media plus sculpture.

You can easily see both exhibitions in one day.

Royal Society of Marine Artists 

The Royal Society of Marine Artists is the focal point for much of Britain's finest contemporary marine art, and many of the country's leading marine artists are elected Members of the Society.
This country is an island nation with a proud maritime heritage. The coastline of Britain and its principal islands measures some 19,400 miles, presenting a wide variety of often spectacular scenery.
The sea is part of who we are as a nation. It is this heritage and this environment that we aim to celebrate.

Title of Exhibition: RSMA Annual Exhibition 2021 

• Venue: Mall Galleries
• Dates: 30 September 2021 to 10 October 2021 - EXCEPT Sunday 3rd October when it is closed all day due to the running of the London Marathon 
• Hours: 10am to 5pm daily (closes 1pm on final day) 
• View artworks online (SCROLL DOWN) (Mall Galleries)
• View Members artwork in the exhibition (RSMA website)
• website: http://www.rsma-web.co.uk 

I actually prefer the online perspective on artwork by members on the RSMA website - mainly because the images are much bigger when scanning through to see which ones you want to take a closer look at. On the other hand, if you click on an image twice on the Mall Galleries website, you get to see an even bigger image. Lots of clicks and navigation though to do this for several exhibits!

The Private View and Awards Ceremony were held yesterday (which I no longer go to as I'm avoiding crowded events). Those artists who have won awards in this exhibition have been announced - and you can see the artworks on the Mall Galleries Facebook Page plus prize details and the artist who won the award.

I just won first prize at Royal Society of Marine Artists @MarineArtists @mallgalleries Murrays Commercial fishing Award.😃 pic.twitter.com/RoKpnxXqxi

— Henrietta Graham (@Henriettagraham) September 29, 2021

It's very interesting, at this stage of the exhibition, to see which artworks sold online prior to the opening of the exhibition and/or sold yesterday the Private View.

Royal Watercolour Society

View of some of the line artwork from this exhibition

Title of Exhibition: RWS Autumn - "Now and Then" 

• Venue: Bankside Gallery 
• Address: 48 Hopton Street, London SE1 9JH
• Dates: 1 - 31 October 2021
• Hours: 11am - 6pm during exhibitions (open daily)
• View artworks online
• website: https://www.royalwatercoloursociety.co.uk

This exhibition of works by Members of the Royal Watercolour Society showcases paintings created in the very recent present alongside those at the earliest points in their career, and everything in between. The display promises to provide visitors with a rare insight into the development of each artist's creative output, as well as the opportunity to take a piece of work home, whether from now or then.

To my mind RWS has still not recovered from their disastrous attempt to "look contemporary" as opposed to painting for the reason they were chosen to be a member and slowly developing their work over time.

Furthermore, despite the scope and intention of the exhibition, I'm left wondering whether member artists read the brief! That's because, 

• to be perfectly honest, when viewing the works online I can't see very much change in artworks - except for those submitted by a very few artists.
• when I checked the dates on some artwork it's also very evident that the watercolour painting styles of some artists have changed very little in the last 10 years (June Berry), 30 years (Richard Bawden) or 40 years (Dennis Roxby Bott) 

I shall be intrigued to see whether buyers are purchasing old or new work - and will probably wait to visit until I get an answer to that question.

Pricing a marine artwork & RSMA Annual Exhibition Metrics

This is about the sales of artwork - by members and non-members - and the average prices achieved in each price band at the Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition 2020. Plus what can be deduced from these numbers when pricing an entry in 2021.

It follows on from

• yesterday's blog post about Call for Entries: Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition 2021 
• my post last year - Review: Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition 2020

I've written extensively on the topic of pricing How to price your art (on this blog and Art Business Info for Artists) and I'm writing this post about pricing because:

• it's unusual for artists to review and analyse how much art sold for (as opposed to what prices were asked)
• to provide a more practical context for how they should set their own prices
  

This post considers three aspects

• the number of artworks sold in each price range - analysed between member and non-member artworks
• pricing lessons for artists selected via the open entry
• observations on sales - in different price bands - for both members and non-members.

Why artists need better advice and guidance about pricing

I've thought for some time that there ought to be clearer guidelines on pricing given to artists entering open exhibitions and art competitions.

I'd really fed up of seeing silly prices - and good artwork hanging on a wall unsold. 

To my mind this is:

• Either a failure of marketing (i.e. the right people are not attending the exhibition)
• Or pricing by member artists - despite past trends on sales and prices in annual exhibitions (assuming they get such data) i.e. are they not told or do they ignore the data?
  
• Or failure to provide good guidance to artists submitting to an open exhibition / art competition via the open entry. Many artists need useful guidelines for pricing their artwork

 

Why I write about pricing and have written this post

One way or another, obvious failures for artists to price effectively needs to be addressed - and this post is by way of me "doing my bit".  

One of the reasons why I'm going to write about pricing is I like to see artists do well - and sell their art.  You also need to bear in mind that I'm an ex-Finance Director and analyst who likes crunching numbers!

I'm also probably the ONLY independent person in the UK who 

• regularly monitors prices and sales of art
  
• across both national art societies and major art competitions 
• provides feedback on such pricing to artists aspiring to develop a professional career.
  

You can read more about pricing art on

• my Art Business Info website - see How to Price Your Art 
• my blog posts about pricing for open exhibitions (at the end of this post)
  
• and why I'm qualified to comment on pricing.  

 

One reason artwork does not sell is price

I often see excellent artworks in exhibitions at the Mall Galleries (both art competitions and art societies) - entered by those who were selected from the Open Entry - which do not sell.

I also see paintings by members which are 'adorning the wall' but not selling because they are overpriced for the venue and the audience. Presumably with a view to marketing commissions - but if they're not doing that either, then it's an expensive use of space.

The reason good to great artworks do not sell, in my view, is primarily often down to how they've been priced - and whether pricing decisions were well-informed.

One of the factors critical to sales is the marketplace the exhibition is taking place in. A marketplace can be defined by the characteristics it exhibits as to ceiling prices and what sort of work sells.  

 

RSMA Annual Exhibition Metrics 2020 - Sales and Pricing

This is a partial view only of the metrics for sales at the RSMA Annual Exhibition in 2020. The numbers available can be sliced and diced in various ways.

The Chart and Table BELOW show the number of artworks sold in different price bands.

The numbers are derived from the online exhibition and the sales recorded on the Exhibition Page on the Mall Galleries website. 

• Given there was no catalogue last year, this is the only visible record of artwork in the exhibition. 
• You can still see the 2020 artworks - with details of medium, size and prices - on the Mall Galleries website - and which ones sold!
  

RSMA 2020: Chart of member (dark blue) and nonmember (pale blue)
sales of artworks across different price bands

• Average prices for each price band are show in the table below - along with the figures for number of sales for members and non-members. 
• The percentage column indicates how the NUMBER sales within price bands contributed to total sales - in a cumulative basis. 
• The latter is NOT the same as how sales within each band contributed to the total value of sales made.

RSMA 2020: Number of sales and average price across different price bands
Plus how each price band cumulatively contributed to total sales (Numbers only)

 

The Table ABOVE indicates