Review: 163rd Annual Exhibition of Society of Women Artists (2024)

The 163rd Annual Exhibition of the Society of Women Artists opened at the Mall Galleries on Wednesday.

The Red Wall in the West Gallery

[UPDATE: This blog post has been updated since first published as the online exhibition is now online - see below for links.]

It's listed as the "163rd Annual Open Exhibition" because the Society

• started as the Society of Female Artists in 1855
• started holding Annual Exhibitions in London since 1857
• became the Society of Lady Artists in 1869
• became the Society of Women Artists in 1899

Their annual exhibition is an International Open Exhibition and invites submissions from women artists around the world. An annual exhibition has been held every year except for 1941 to 1946 - due to the Second World war and 2020-2021 when Online Exhibitions were held due to the global pandemic.

There's a very interesting page about its history on their website

The society has had many notable artists among its members. Dame Laura Knight, the first woman Royal Academician, was elected president in 1932 and retained that office until she retired in 1968 to become a Patron.[9] Illustrator Mabel Lucie Atwell and Suzanne Lucas,[10] past President of the Society of Botanical Artists and the first woman president of Royal Miniature Society (now known as Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers), were also members. Current members include Daphne Todd, the first female President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters from 1994–2000 and winner of the BP Portrait Award 2010, portraitist June Mendoza, and Philomena Davidson, first woman President of the Royal British Society of Sculptors (now known as Royal Society of Sculptors).

SWA Annual Exhibition 2024

View of the West Gallery

I arrived late to the exhibition as it was an extremely hot day and there was a lot of walking involved in travelling from the Bankside Gallery where I had been to the Opening Day of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers to the Mall Galleries where the SWA Exhibition is being held until 29th June

If travelling to London to see either exhibition, I recommend you take the time to see both exhibitions - but you've only got until Saturday 29th June to see the SWA. 

There are demonstrations every day. On tomorrow and Saturday these are:

• Tessa Jane - Exploring Fragments of Time | Friday 28th June AM
• Kristine Nason - Narratives in oil and cold wax | Friday 28th June PM
• Elizabeth Nast - Depicting the ordinary in the urban landscape | Saturday 29th June AM
• Cathy Read - Dynamic cityscapes | Saturday 29th June PM

Main observations on the exhibition

This is an exhibition which:

• attracts over 3,000 entries via the open entry
• selects a large number of works for hanging or display in the exhibition - across all three galleries of the Mall Galleries
• aims to achieve a 50:50 ratio in relation to
• artwork exhibited by members
• artwork selected from the open entry
• AND in the way the artwork is exhibited

All the above is admirable and has resulted in some impressive exhibitions in the past - but less so this year.

As always with my helpful critique hat on and plainspeaking mode switched on, this is what I found

• they had over 3,000 entries to this open exhibition
• [UPDATE: they selected 239 artworks from non-members - which is way more than most art societies exhibiting at the Mall Galleries select]
• they hung/show some 490 artworks in total - which to my mind is far too many for the space
• there was no catalogue available yesterday when they attracted hordes to the opening - which is a very great pity because 
• the exhibition is not online on either the Mall Galleries website or the SWA website and that means no scope for online sales. 

[UPDATE: The exhibition is now available online - if you look at the thumbnail view you can see the artworks which have sold online (but not what price they sold for). You can also see

• artworks by SWA Members
• artworks by non-members]

You can however also see what it looks like in my photographs of the exhibition on my MaM Facebook Page. However I cannot say who did what because I have had no reference when I wrote this post!

• SWA Annual Exhibition 2024 | West Gallery
• SWA Annual Exhibition 2024 | East and North Galleries

This is the list of ALL artists selected for the exhibition (both members and open entry artists). However unlike last year you cannot click their names to see their work online. I'm not sure why not - but think this change is a mistake.  [UPDATE: The selection on the call for entries site is on a different URL to that for the online exhibition]

Two excellent botanical artworks hung in the wrong space.
The one at the bottom is by Toni Dade who has just won her second RHS Gold Medal
and is currently exhibiting at the Saatchi Gallery

I have to say while I liked some of the artwork - and there's a lot which is good, I did not love the exhibition. 

• I think because this year there were just too many works which I'd have edited out (and they weren't just from the open entry). 
• I like the RA approach of "selected but not hung". By all means give yourself scope to hang as many as you need - but do not lose the big picture by hanging too many - including those which really should have been left out at the digital stage.

One benefit of the SWA approach to hanging is that they're not obliged to hang all submissions by members - which does give them some latitude. However I think they maybe need to be reviewing whether the notion that "a member's work should always be better than open entries" is a yardstick which might need to be exercised more in relation to selection.

I also observed

• lots of small artworks - which to me looked too crowded in the walls around where the tables and chairs are normally located. They were also hung much too high and much too low. If you cannot read the label easily, then you've got the hang wrong. When you select this many, you also need to very mindful of the space they need and allocate more space to allow people to READ THE LABELS EASILY! This was an issue which could have been neatly resolved by just taking more space for small artworks in the West Gallery.

one of the small works walls

• A very impactful red wall at the end of the West Gallery. However congregating all the artworks with red in one place did leave some of the other walls looking a tad  anaemic in places. Plus too much red in one space is quite hard on the eyes. Red draws the eye - but having lots of red has your eyes not knowing where to look next. I certainly didn't want to look at it for too long.

One of the walls featuring portraits and people in the North Gallery

I liked the fact paintings of groups were included
- there are far too few artists who can paint convincing groups
and these paintings by Anne Blankson Hemans were a great cultural statement

• the portrait / people section of the North Gallery impressed - a LOT. I particularly liked the diversity of styles and the imagination demonstrated by some artists in terms of how portraits and people can be painted. Hanging all the portraits together lends a coherence to the presentation and the impact of the artwork hung overall. I also saw  one very flowery wall and an animal corner. It's maybe worth thinking about whether the same approach might work for some landscapes and still lifes. If it was it was less evident.

One of the sculpture stands in the West Gallery

• as always, the exhibition includes a rich choice of scupture and 3D work done in various media. Some included subject matter on a female theme. However I was very impressed by some amazing bronze work by Jane Morgan ASWA

Strawberry Sunday by Jane Morgan
Bronze, painted in oils, lacquered

My recommendations for the next exhibition

I think my overall conclusion this year is that this exhibition "could do better" and indeed has in the past.

So I'm optimistic that, given I've delivered some critical comments in the past which led to an significant improvement, the following comments will be taken in a constructive way.

• don't have such a very SHORT exhibition - open for four days only is simply not worth the effort. This is not a "pop-up"! Exhibit every other year if you want to save money (as some now do) or find another venue for a smaller members only exhibition in the inbetween years if you want to maintain the "exhibits in London on an annual basis" record.
• do NOT omit the online version - most art societies exhibiting at the Mall Galleries are making sales before their exhibitions even open these days. 
• change your printer (and I'd very much suggest you do NOT pay the invoice for this year's catalogue - because non-delivery for a timed event is a major ****** and fails to fulfil the terms of the contract)
• focus on quality and curation. Try and be more discriminating and select fewer artworks - aim to hang/show no more than c. 400
• be much more discriminating about entries by members - some were very definitely not up to snuff - and it's not a nice task but sometimes members need to be told this. 
• stop hanging artwork too high or too low - it cannot be seen by visitors and the latter MUST BE ABLE TO READ THE LABELS or they will not sell
• nothing wrong with lots of small artworks - they tend to sell well if priced right - so allow these to have more space - at a reasonable eye level - to be seen and attract buyers
• consider having spaces clearly for landscapes or still life and see if you can achieve the same impact as is achieved for the area of portraits in the North Gallery
• if you want to hold annual exhibitions - particularly at the Mall Galleries which is not cheap - you MUST focus on the financials.
• Do encourage artwork in the affordable price ranges
• Provide guidance to artists about sale prices (I preach about this on a regular basis)
• Check high prices by size and calibre/background of the artist - you have some very good artists exhibiting - but not all are.
• Do NOT accept artwork with silly prices and no evidence that this had been achieved by this artist in the past
• ALWAYS hang quality artwork in quality places - so it gets noticed!
• be aware of the walls which are NOT normally used for hanging!!
  
  

REFERENCE

See my blog posts below for more about past exhibitions

• Review: 162nd Annual Exhibition of Society of Women Artists (2023)
• Society of Women Artists - Online Annual Exhibition 2021
• Review: Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition 2019
• Review: Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition 2018
• VIDEO Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition 2017 - which highlights pieces which caught my attention
• Review: Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition 2017 - which highlights changes made to the exhibition
• Review: Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition 2016
• Review - Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition 2015

The Courtauld Gallery Collection Online

One of the aspects of The Courtauld's recent renewal / refurbishment was a huge digitisation project relating to its collection of various types of artworks, images and artefacts.

You can now see the complete collection online - in a HUGE amount of detail/magnification. It provides an amazing insight for anybody anywhere in the world into both mark-making and processes by famous artists - whether by 

• brush using oil, watercolour or other media 
• or stick of charcoal, pastel of graphite

View The Courtauld Gallery Collection Online 

The Courtauld Gallery’s collection, which comprises over 33,000 objects ranging from the Middle Ages to the 21st century and includes paintings, drawings, ceramics and sculptures, among others, is available to explore in its entirety online for free for the first time thanks to a new digital platform.

This features:

• 618 Paintings
• 5,462 Drawings 
• 26,627 Prints
• 60 Sculptures

Plus ceramics, silverware, enamels, ivories, books, metalware, silverware, furniture, textiles, glassware, woodwork and frames.

Some of the categories of images online

You can also download images - so long as you stick to the rules. Basically it's a Creative Commons licence CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Unported) licence - meaning you must provide attribution and not use if commercially.

The Courtauld makes images of its collection and other content on this website available for non-commercial and educational purposes under a Creative Commons licence CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 (Unported). For more information on the selected Creative Commons licence, please visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en_GB.

You are welcome to use images and content identified as Courtauld copyright for non-commercial purposes in research, private study or study within an educational establishment (such as a school, college or university), for criticism and review. The source of the image or content must be provided and its copyright status acknowledged. Images of the Courtauld collection should be credited with Photo © The Courtauld. Other Courtauld licenced content must be credited with © The Courtauld.

View The Courtauld Gallery Photograph Collection Online

The Courtauld’s photographic collections are of major international significance for the study and research of art, architecture, provenance and collecting, as well as enjoyment and appreciation of art in the classroom and at home

 

Review Part 2: 161st Annual Exhibition of the Society of Women Artists

Part 2 of  my review of the annual exhibition of the Society of Women Artists at the Mall Galleries covers the exhibition as a whole in relation to:

• 469 artworks on display - with a high standard
• The ratio of members artwork to artwork selected from the open entry is 50:50. The latter has been selected from over 3,000 entries via the call for entries from non members
• a very great deal of 'fresh' artwork with "same old same old" at a minimum
• an outstanding exhibition sculpture
• a very impressive gallery of portraits
• better than some other art society exhibitions at the Mall Galleries

Yesterday I published Part 1 of my Review: 161st Annual Exhibition of the Society of Women Artists - which focused on the prizewinners.

Some of the sculpture in the West Gallery

The exhibition is open daily at the Mall Galleries 10am - 5pm - except for the last day (Sunday 11th September) when it closes at 1pm.

This is the list of artists selected for the exhibition - click their names to see their work online

Attractiveness of this Open Exhibition

This is an exhibition which:

• attracts over 3,000 entries via the open entry
• selects a large number of works for hanging or display in the exhibition - across all three galleries of the Mall Galleries
• aims to achieve a 50:50 ratio in relation to
• artwork exhibited by members
• artwork selected from the open entry
• AND in the way the artwork is exhibited

The latter 50:50 in particular is a very attractive proposition for those women artists wanting to enter open art exhibitions. It's a ratio not always achieved by the national art societies who rather too often tend to favour their members.

West Gallery

Moreover the exhibition is hung in such a way that it mixes up the artwork by members and non-members right across the exhibition. There's no "hogging" particular galleries by members and no sense of any dip in the quality of the work as you get into the North Gallery and move back - which is, to my mind, a feature of a few too many exhibitions held at the Mall Galleries.

So overall - this is an exhibition which demonstrates a very fair and even-handed approach to artwork by both members and non-members.

East Gallery - end wall

Quality of the Artwork

Review: 161st Annual Exhibition of the Society of Women Artists (Part 1: Prizewinners)

I visited the 161st Annual Exhibition of the Society of Women Artists at the Mall Galleries yesterday. I highly recommend you get along to the Mall Galleries if you can before it closes on Sunday 11th September.

Two large charcoal drawings exhibited in the East Gallery

The artwork can also be seen via an online exhibition.

Here's a summary of the highlights of my review - which I apologise for truncating and posting late due to the events of this afternoon.

PART 1:

• a packed Private View
• a good range of prizes - won by SWA members and open artists

PART 2:

• 469 artworks on display - with a high standard
• The ratio of members artwork to artwork selected from the open entry is 50:50. The latter has been selected from over 3,000 entries via the call for entries from non members
• a very great deal of 'fresh' artwork with "same old same old" at a minimum
• an outstanding exhibition sculpture
• a very impressive gallery of portraits
• better than some other art society exhibitions at the Mall Galleries

The exhibition is open daily 10am - 5pm - except for the last day when it closes at 1pm.

Private View & Prizes

Call for Entries: New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2021

The deadline for open entries for the 2021 Annual Exhibition of the New English Art Club (NEAC) at the Mall Galleries is just over six weeks away - Friday 30th April, 12 noon.

The exhibition is currently scheduled for 25th June to 3rd July

I always go back to basics and look at how an art society describes itself. In principle this should help with determining what sort of art is appropriate for the exhibition.

Last year that the description had changed - but remains the same this year.

The New English Art Club is an elected society of contemporary painters whose ethos resides in art informed by the visual world and personal interpretation.

Our Annual Exhibition is a showcase not only for its members but also for aspiring artists: with a history going back more than a hundred years, it is an opportunity for work to be seen alongside some of the best artists painting today, held at Mall Galleries in London.

All the images in this post comes from the annual exhibition in 2020.

Paintings in the 2020 exhibition

    

The nature of the NEAC Annual Exhibition

I'll reiterate below a number of important points about this exhibition and the association open submission

If you are considering whether to submit art via the open entry, it's worth paying regard to various aspects of the NEAC Open Exhibition. These are:

• LOTS of artists want to be a member of NEAC. (This page explains their route to membership). For example, very many members of the OTHER art societies based at the Mall Galleries would like to be a member of NEAC - so your competition is people who have already been elevated to membership of other societies belonging to the Federation of British Artists.
• that's because historically it's had
• status - this art society was established by people who broke away from the Royal Academy of Arts
• a good reputation (historically) for displaying lots of good quality artwork. Latterly I've argued that this has wavered a bit at times. 
• over £10,000 in monetary awards are now available - some of which can only be won by a non-member or an emerging artist.
• around 75% of the artworks hung are by members of NEAC
• around 20% of artworks hung come from the open and are 
• by artists who are not a member of any art society based at the Mall Galleries. 
• This is a LOT LOWER than the equivalent percentage for ALL other FBA Societies.

You can read about the ethos of NEAC and the Metrics (numbers / performance indicators) associated with the club in my call for entries last year. There's no point in updating this yet as 2020 was such a very odd year.

Different perspectives and media

Prizes & Awards

There are a number of prizes and awards - which are open to all artists submitting work via the open entry. These include:

Monetary Awards

• The Doreen McIntosh Prize: £5,000. In order to reflect the best in figurative painting in British Art, The Doreen McIntosh Prize is for an artist whose work fulfils the New English Art Club’s ideals of rigour, immediate engagement with the visual and a searching attitude.
• Chris Beetles Gallery Prize for Figurative Art: £2,500 for a non-member artist. Selected by Chris Beetles of Chris Beetles Gallery, St James's, London
• The Hermione Hammond Drawing Award: £2,000 for a drawing by an emerging artist aged 35 or under
• The Bowyer Drawing Prize: £500

Art Materials

• The Winsor & Newton Award: Art materials to the value of £500
• The Peter Ashley Framing Prize, presented by The Artistic Framing Company: A bespoke handmade picture frame will be created for the winning work, to the value of £500

Publication Awards

• The Dry Red Press Award: The winning work will be published as a greeting card in the Dry Red Press 'Prize Winners' range, with royalties from the sale of the cards going to the artist

You can see what artwork won which prize last year in 

• the 2020 Prizes Page on the NEAC website - plus videos by the prizewinners
• my blog post New English Art Club - Annual Exhibition 2020 (Part 2) - in which you can see the artworks framed and hanging on the wall

This is the video by Jason Line, the chap who produced an excellent drawing to win The Bowyer Drawing Prize in 2020.

Call for Entries

This is an OPEN EXHIBITION. You can find Information about the NEAC exhibition on the Mall Galleries Website.

West Gallery

Eligible artists: WHO can Submit?

Artists are invited to submit work for exhibition alongside members of the New English Art Club at their Annual Exhibition 2021 

Any artist, over the age of 18 - living anywhere in the world - can submit artwork to this exhibition. Both members of NEAC and other international or British artists are invited to submit artwork for consideration.

NEXT there are two DIFFERENT sets of information.

• The first are the terms of entry which are specific to this NEAC exhibition are in "What can you submit?" below
• the second is the standard/universal Generic Terms and Conditions relevant to submissions to ANY exhibition at the Mall Galleries by a society which is a member of the Federation of British Artists re. How to Submit and other Terms and Conditions of Entry.

Eligible artwork: WHAT can you submit?

Call for Entries: New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2020

The Open Submission for the 2020 Annual Exhibition of the New English Art Club (NEAC) is now open. Three big changes this year are as follows:

1) I think they've CHANGED the summary description of NEAC's purpose

The New English Art Club is an elected society of contemporary painters whose ethos resides in art informed by the visual world and personal interpretation. 
(my bold underlining)

compared to the 2019 catalogue (see below). What happened to the emphasis on figurative and drawing?

The New English Art Club Annual Exhibition is a chance to experience the very best in figurative, observational and painterly work in the UK.
It showcases paintings, drawings and prints from its elected members alongside work by emerging artists whose ethos reflects its own: informed by the visual world and personal interpretation; and underpinned by drawing. Mall Galleries Introduction

AND

2) artists may submit to the NEAC Annual Exhibition in one of TWO ways:

• Online Pre-selection (Route A) or 
• Physical Selection (Route B).

The New English Art Club now offers Route B for artists wishing their work to be judged physically at the gallery for the first time, bypassing the online shortlisting process.
This is in recognition of the fact that it can be difficult for the selection committee to fully appreciate an artwork on screen, but at the same time recognising that the online pre-selection may save artists the time and expense of framing and transportation. The submission fee is the same for both options.

I wonder how much this is down to requests from artists and how much due to selectors not liking selecting online and/or not having computers which are good enough to make a decent selection...

AND

3) They have some NEW sponsors and two NEW rather good new cash prizes - open only to either a non-member or an emerging artist under 35!


This post provides:

• my commentary on the nature of this open exhibition
• a reminder of the metrics associated with the annual exhibition in 2019 - including
• the number of works selected from the open entry, 
• the number of non-member artists who got to exhibit and 
• the average number of artworks hung by a non-members.
• a summary of what you can enter AND how to enter the next annual exhibition.

view of part of the 2019 exhibition

The nature of the NEAC Annual Exhibition

There are aspects of the NEAC Open Exhibition which are worth bearing in mind when considering whether to submit art via the open entry.

• LOTS of artists want to be a member of NEAC. For example, very many members of the OTHER art societies based at the Mall Galleries would like to be a member of NEAC - so your competition is people who have already been elevated to membership of societies belonging to the Federation of British Artists.
• that's because historically it's had 
• status - this art society was established by people who broke away from the Royal Academy of Arts
• a good repuation (historically)as having lots of good quality artwork. Latterly I'd argue that this has wavered a bit
• over £10,000 in monetary awards are now available (with two NEW prizes this year)- some of which can only be won by a non-member or an emerging artist.
• around 75% of the artworks hung are by members of NEAC
• around 20% of artworks hung come from the open and are by artists who are not a member of any art society based at the Mall Galleries. This is a LOT LOWER than the equivalent percentage for ALL other FBA Societies.

I'll unpick the metrics below. They are VERY IMPORTANT when thinking about how many works to submit and the competition for membership.

Drawings and prints - an exhibition in Brooklyn

Two weeks ago today, I saw the Rembrandt to Picasso: Five Centuries of European Works on Paper exhibition (June 21–October 13, 2019) at the Brooklyn Museum.

Images of my photos of the exhibition

Today I've loaded my photos from the exhibition into an album on my Making A Mark Facebook Page - also called Rembrandt to Picasso: Five Centuries of European Works on Paper  - for all those who love drawings and prints but were unable to see the exhibition.

The exhibition included fine art prints - using various methods by

• Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)
• Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 -1669)
• Honore Daumier (1808 - 1879)
• Edgar Degas (1834 - 1917)
• Paul Cezanne (1839 - 1906)
• Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841 - 1919) 
• Paul Signac (1863 - 1935)
• Henri de Toulouse Lautrec (1864 - 1901)
• Pierre Bonnard (1867 - 1947)
• Edouard Vuillard (1868 - 1940)
• Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954)

Plus drawings in different media and watercolour sketches by

• Rosa Bonheur (1822 - 1899)
• Jean-Francois Millet (1814 - 1875)
• Paul Cezanne (1839 - 1906)
• Berthe Morisot (1841 - 1895)
• Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890)
• Suzanne Valadon (1865 - 1938)
• Kathe Kollwitz (1865 - 1945)
• Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973)
• Amadeo Modigliano (1884 - 1920)

I looked through their Collection categories but they don't have a category for drawing (1751 items) and/or print (3052 items) and/or works on paper. More's the pity. However you do get to see rather a lot of unsorted works which fall within these categories - and it's worth taking a look.

They've also got lists of the titles and dates of past exhibition - but no digital archives of the works that were on show in these exhibitions.

I do hope that museums will soon realise that by showing digitised images after the event that will generate more visitors in the future!

Call for Entries - Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2020

This is my summary of the Call for Entries for the 2020 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA)

• Entries opened today Monday 30th September 2019
• The deadline for entries is Friday 29 November, 12 noon
• For full terms and conditions, click here.

It covers

• the exhibition
• cash prizes and awards
• who can enter
• what you can enter
• how to enter

The Royal Society of British Artists seeks submissions of work displaying the highest standards of skill, expression and concept of draughtsmanship

RBA Annual Exhibition 2019 - Small works in the Main Gallery - prints, drawings and paintings

Exhibition in 2020

The Exhibition in 2020 has been brought forward from July to February 2020 and will held, as usual, at the Mall Galleries.

In effect it's reverted to its normal slot.

It's usually held across all three galleries due to its size (485 artworks exhibited in 2019 - including a special exhibition for the RBA Star Students from schools and colleges across the country)

• Opens on Thursday 20 February 2020
• Open to the public every day from 10am - 5pm (except the last day)
• Closes at 5pm on Saturday 29 February 2020.
• The Private View will be on Wednesday 19th July 2019, 11am – 8pm - with speeches at 6pm.

Prizes & Awards (subject to final confirmation)

This a link to the artworks which won prizes and awards at the Annual Exhibition in 2019.

A variety of Prizes and Awards are on offer. These include:

Cash Prizes

• The De Laszlo Foundation Medal for Excellence and £1,500 will be awarded for the best artwork from life by an artist aged 35 or under
• The Patron's Prize: £500
• The Surgeon's Prize: £500
• The Gordon Hulson Memorial Prize: £250 for draughtsmanship, variety & exploration
• The Stuart Southall Print Prize: £250
• The Nathan David Award for Sculpture: £150

Publication Awards

• The Artist Magazine Award: The winner will be interviewed in The Artist magazine, print and digital editions
• The Dry Red Press Award: The winning work will be published as a greeting card in the Dry Red Press 'Prize Winners' range, with royalties from the sale of the cards going to the artist

Art Materials & Other Awards

• The Winsor & Newton Painting Award: Art materials to the value of £500
• The Michael Harding Awards: Two awards of £500 worth of Michael Harding art materials
• Hahnemuhle Fine Art UK Award: A prize of artist paper, worth £250
• Frinton Frames Award: £200 of picture framing at Frinton Frames bespoke hand-finished picture frame makers

Education Awards

• The London Atelier of Representational Art (LARA) Prize for a Young Artist: Free short course in London

Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists 2019 -  some of the artworks in the North Gallery

While there is a some variation in quality between artworks - with some outstanding pieces - the overall standard of the exhibition is good to very good. The RBA continues to maintain its improvement in exhibition standards of recent years

Submitting an Entry

Artists are invited to submit entries via the open entry to this juried exhibition of work by members of the Royal Society of British Artists.

RECOMMENDED: This is an OPEN exhibition worth entering.

In the main exhibition, the split between members and open entries is respectable.

• 316 works (65%) are by Members of the RBA

• 169 artworks (35%) were selected from the Open Entry - out of c.1800 submissions - which is an increase from the 127 selected in 2017. Numbers are going in the right direction.

Which means around 9.3% of the artwork submitted via the Open Entry was selected for the Annual Exhibition. Review - Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2019

Who can submit

• Any artist over 18 may submit - including artists who do not live or work in the UK.

What can you submit?

If you missed Van Gogh in Britain at the Tate

Last week I visited Van Gogh and Britain at Tate Britain - and took rather a lot of photos. I've now uploaded some of these - mostly the ones of the drawings and paintings by Vincent Van Gogh to an album attached to my public Facebook Page titled Van Gogh and Britain

The exhibition has now closed and I recommend you take a look if you wanted to visit but were unable to do so.  Also if you want to read more about Van Gogh I've listed other blog posts about Van Gogh - which also contain pics at the end of this post.

It includes:

• drawings by Van Gogh - including one where I show the mark-making close up (see above - his drawing of the garden at the asylum at St Remy)
• self-portraits by Van Gogh - three in total
• paintings by Van Gogh - in variou venues and across the years

PLUS

• Drawings, paintings and prints by other artists who influenced Van Gogh - notably John Constable, John Millais and Gustave Dore
• paintings by artists influenced by Van Gogh - including Lucien Pissarro, Samuel John Peploe and Francis Bacon.
• pictures from the last Van Gogh Exhibition at Tate Britain in 1947-8 - when they had to resurface the floors afterwards due to the number of people who visited

You need to look at each photo individually to see the caption - and I haven't quite finished these but have done most of them - and with some that are not finished you can read the wall caption which is also in the photo

READ (a lot!) MORE

You can also read the Guide to the exhibition on the Tate website - but you'll need to be quick as for some reason the Tate does not archive its exhibition and educational material!

PLUS my blog posts from my Van Gogh Project - which do not date - and are included below (Introduction to the Van Gogh Project)

Van Gogh and Drawing

"I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing." Vincent van Gogh (1853 - 1890)

• Van Gogh: Drawing media and techniques (2007) - This post focuses on Van Gogh's drawing materials and how they influenced his style.
• Van Gogh: More About Drawing (2007) - Links to websites which provide a very useful perspective on Van Gogh's approach to drawing
• Van Gogh: Drawing Landscapes (2007) - More about Van Gogh and Drawing - this post focuses on his landscape drawings.
• Van Gogh: Drawing Figures, Portraits and Self-Portraits (2007) - At one stage in his career, Van Gogh hoped to be a portrait painter in Paris.

Van Gogh's Paintings

Review - Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2019

There are 514 artworks in total in the 2019 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists. They comprise paintings, fine art prints, drawings, sculpture, ceramics and other 3D work in all kinds of media and but mainly (but not exclusively) a figurative / representative style - and you can see them at the Mall Galleries until Sunday 14th July.

This post covers:

• About the Exhibition - what you need to know
• Exhibition Metrics and the Open Entry
• Prizes and awards
• Artwork I liked

Strong paintings and 3D work in the Threadneedle Space

I turned right on entering and encountered a very impressive hang in the Threadneedle Space. Lots of variety in terms of style, size and media - and some very eye-catching work

A view of the Threadneedle Space

In fact my first reaction to the very first paintings I saw was "Proper paintings - this is going to be a good one" - which is a pretty good way of influencing somebody who is going to review a exhibition!

This is an exhibition which has packed in the artwork - and some might say that it looks crowded. However I much prefer to see good art - the only time I'll complain about crowded walls is when some of the artwork should have been weeded out!

In general I liked the hang - except for the end wall in the Main Gallery which to me seemed to lack the type of "look at me" pieces that the wall demands. A woman in skimpy clothing in front of a bulls eye does not rate as "look at me" in my eyes - quite the reverse.

One odd thing I noticed is that it's a bit of a cats and dogs exhibition - I spied many more cats and dogs than I normally do - and they seem (as I also note at the RA Summer Exhibition - to be very popular!)

While there is a some variation in quality between artworks - with some outstanding pieces - the overall standard of the exhibition is good to very good. The RBA continues to maintain its improvement in exhibition standards of recent years

Works on the mezzanine level (above the stairs) to the right of the entrance
- made me think there was more good work to see beyond!

About the exhibition

View of part of the RBS Annual Exhibition 2019 in the Main Gallery

• Venue: Mall Galleries - The Mall, St. James's, London SW1, UK (link is to Google Maps)
• Dates: 4th - Sunday 14th July (closing 1pm on the last day)
• Open: Daily, 10am to 5pm during exhibitions (unless otherwise stated)
• Admission £4, £2.50 concessions, 50% off for National Art Pass holders, Free for Friends of Mall Galleries, RBA Friends and under 25 year olds

Details of the remaining events during the course of the exhibition can be found on the Mall Galleries website

View images online

If you don't visit the exhibition you can also view images online

Call for Entries - Royal Society of British Artists 302nd Exhibition

This is a reminder that you have until Friday 15th March 2019 to submit an entry to the 2019 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA)

This post is about the Call for Entries. It covers

• how to become a member of the RBA
• who can enter
• how to enter
• the exhibition

Last year, the RBA selected a record number of 174 works from the open submission.

a view of part of the main gallery at last year's exhibition

Artists are invited to submit works for exhibition alongside members of the Royal Society of British Artists at their Annual Exhibition 2019.

This then is your opportunity to exhibit with the Royal Society of British Artists whose past exhibitions have included works by past members such as

• James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) - who was RBA President 1886-1888
• Walter Richard Sickert, RA (1860-1942) - Elected RBA President 1928 - 1930
• LS Lowry, RA (1887-1976) - RBA Member 1935
• amongst a number of other well known artists

You too could have work selected from the open entry as Claude Monet (1840 – 1926) did when four of his works, each priced at £160, were included in the winter show of 1887/8!

303rd Exhibition in 2019

The 303rd exhibition in 2019 will be held in July 2019 at the Mall Galleries. It's usually held across all three galleries due to its size.

• Opens on Thursday 4th July  2018 
• Open to the public every day from 10am - 5pm (except the last day)
• Closes at 1pm on Saturday 14th July 2019.
• The Private View will be on Wednesday 3rd July 2018, 11am – 8pm - with speeches at 6pm.

How to become a member of the RBA

The RBA is a society where membership is often seen as a complement to membership of other national art societies. Indeed this was its original intention.

A group of painters met at Lincoln’s Inn Fields on May 21st 1823, to form the ‘Society of British Artists’, whose manifesto stated, ‘This organisation was not formed to rival existing societies but that every Member was to be at liberty to assist and support any other society.’

Those wanting to join the Society are invited to submit to the annual exhibition. You'll need to submit and be selected for several annual exhibitions before you are accepted as a member.

This is how to join the RBA

Candidates for membership are exhibited in one part of the exhibition (and of the five people who exhibited at the 2018 exhibition who I said I hoped to see as members of the RBA after the exhibition, four of the five now are!)

On average, there are 110 members elected to the RBA, all of whom are entitled to exhibit in the Annual Exhibition which is held at Mall Galleries in London. The membership procedure is competitive; candidates will normally be expected to have previously exhibited several times with the Society after which they may apply for election to the RBA.

artwork in the north gallery last year

Call for Entries Royal Society of British Artists 2019

Prizes

There are many prizes and awards available to win, including:

Cash Prizes

• The de Laszlo Foundation Prize: The de Laszlo Medal and £1,500 will be awarded to the artist aged 35 or under for the best art work from life
• The Patron's Prize: £500
• The Stuart Southall Print Prize: £250
• The Gordon Hulson Memorial Prize for Draughtsmanship, Variety & Exploration: £200
• The Nathan David Award for Sculpture: £150
• The Davison Award for Oil Painting: £100
• The Geoffrey Vivis Memorial Award: £100
• The Anthony J Lester Art Critic Award: £50

Tuition Prize

• The LARA Prize for a Young Artist: Short course at London or Bristol

Publication Prizes

• The Artist Magazine Award: The winner will be interviewed in The Artist magazine, print and digital editions
• The Dry Red Press Award: The winning work will be published as a greeting card in the Dry Red Press 'Prize Winners' range, with royalties from the sale of the cards going to the artist

Art Materials Prizes

• The Michael Harding Awards: Two awards of £500 worth of Michael Harding art materials, and 10 painting starter sets
• The Winsor & Newton Painting Award: Art materials to the value of £500
• Hahnemuhle Fine Art UK Award: A prize of artist paper, worth £250
• Frinton Frames Award: £200 of picture framing at Frinton Frames bespoke handfinished picture frame makers

Who can Submit?

This is an OPEN EXHIBITION.

Any artist - over the age of 18 - living anywhere in the world can submit artwork to this exhibition.

• On the Mall galleries website you can find 
• Information about the exhibition 
• the full terms and conditions
• Below you can also find my summary of how to enter the next annual exhibition.

I recommend you also have a read of my review of last year's exhibition before deciding on your submission. It has LOTS of images of the exhibition.

What can you submit?

• Acceptable media: Any medium including sculpture and original prints.
• Age of artwork: no requirement
• No. of artworks: up to six - of which up to four will be selected
• Previous exhibitions: Work must not have been exhibited previously.
• Dry: Paintings should be completely dry at the time of delivery (or they won't be hung)
• Size: Works should not be larger than 2.4m along the longest dimension.
• For Sale: All work must be for sale
• Price: The minimum price is £300 (framed prints: £180, unframed prints: £120).

I'm a big fan of art societies who refuse to allow people to exhibit work they have previously exhibited elsewhere - it makes for a better exhibition of work which is fresh to the eye.

the RBA Exhibition in the Threadneedle Space last year

How to enter

Entry is digital - after the preselection, artists will be invited to submit work for the second stage review.

• All entries are via digital submission online. (You cannot bring your artwork to London to enter)
• Images must be in JPEG format and under 5MB]
• Entry fee is £18 per work payable at the time of submitting (£12 per work for artists aged 35 or under) and includes free admission to all artists SUBMITTING work to the exhibition (normally £4).

VAT

HMRC define you as an overseas seller if you sell goods stored in the UK to UK consumers and do not have a business establishment in the UK.  In this instance the Mall Galleries acts as your agent.

Those submitting from outside the UK must decide 

• whether they need to register for VAT in advance (see Overseas business and VAT)
• engage an art carrier to deliver their work

Timeline - submission to exhibition

• Submission closes: Friday 15 March 2019, 12 noon
• Pre-selection: Monday 18 March, 10am to 5pm
• Pre-selection notification: Friday 22 March, 12 noon
• Receiving Day: Saturday 27 April, 10am to 5pm
• Selection Day: Tuesday 30 April, 10am to 5pm
• Acceptance notification: Wednesday 1 May, 12 noon
• Collection of unaccepted work: Friday 3 May, 10am to 5pm
• Private View: Wednesday 3 July, 11am to 8pm (speeches at 6pm)
• Exhibition open: Thursday 4 July 10am to 5pm
• Exhibition closes: Sunday 14 July, 1pm

TIP: This is a link to images and details of the artwork in last year's exhibition which is on the RBA website. I've ordered it by price - starting with the lowest priced. You can see which ones sold.

I expressed the view last year that some of those who were exhibiting were using very silly prices.

I recommend you study carefully the price ranges for different sized work - and work in different media - and which sold.  That gives you some sort of context for a submission this week.

Call for Entries - New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2019

The Call for Entries has gone out from the New English Art Club for its Annual Exhibition which will be held between the 14th and 22nd June 2019.

The New English Art Club seeks work which demonstrates excellence in both concept and draughtsmanship Mall Galleries

The deadline for digital submissions is Friday 22 February 2019, 12 noon.

Below you can find

• my commentary on the nature of this open exhibition
• a review of the metrics associated with the annual exhibition in June 2017 - including the number of works selected from the open entry, the number of non-member artists who got to exhibit and the average number of artworks hung by a non-members.
• a summary of how to enter the next annual exhibition.

One of the advantages of now having the NEAC Exhibition in June is it coincides with the first week of the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts - and lots of people now travel to London to see both exhibitions!  In fact you can easily walk between the two!

The New English Art Club

This is how NEAC explains its purpose and remit as follows

The New English Art Club is an elected society of contemporary painters whose ethos resides in art informed by the visual world and personal interpretation.

Our Annual Exhibition is a showcase not only for its members but also for aspiring artists: with a history going back more than a hundred years, it is an opportunity for work to be seen alongside some of the best artists painting today, held at Mall Galleries in London.

While some in the past have tended to see it as a staging post to entry to the Royal Academy, for my part, I tend to think of it more as follows

"NEAC" is after all the set of initials that other FBA society members want to add on to their existing signature member status - probably because it was originally a spin-off from the RA. Review: New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2018 #1

For information on how to become a member see the NEAC website - Artist Membership Application Process 

An annual exhibition under a NEW President

The NEAC website "Calls for Entries" to submit work to the annual exhibition.
This is an image of the Selection Panel in action
in the basement of Carlton House Terrace, in the room where artworks  are delivered 

While selection is by a panel of members, I'd expect a new President to set the tone for what he'd like to see happen. However, bear in mind when submitting work that there is a limit to how much time each work submitted can be viewed - and that this is the distance that most works are generally viewed from! (see the pic above)

There was a point when most of the Presidents of the FBA Societies were older than me - and now I'm older and many are younger! However, in recent times, there's been a bit of a sense at the moment of the "new guard" taking up the responsibilities of President from the "old guard".