Review: Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers Annual Exhibition 2023

Last week I visited the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers (RMS) at what looks like becoming their NEW home at the Bankside Gallery on the South bank of the Thames - next to Tate Modern.

RMS Display Cabinets at the Bankside Gallery

Reasons for the move to the Bankside Gallery are at the end. I'd suggest they are worth noting by any other art societies who've previously hired the Mall Galleries for their exhibitions.

For those not familiar with miniature art Anthony Lester provides a good explanation

With a maximum size of 6 x 4 inches (15.24 x 10.16 cm), the painting of miniatures demands self-discipline, for where large pictures give some latitude in composition, miniatures are unforgiving of the least mistake; a tolerance of even a millimetre is hardly permitted. Apart from their quality and beauty, they have much appeal because of their size and, with stunning works available from a few hundred pounds, affordability is an enticement too.

More helpful information and tips are provided on the RMS website 

 

RMS Annual Exhibition

The exhibition is open daily from 11-6pm until 6pm on Saturday 8th July. 

Entry is free and the essential exhibition catalogue is £3.

Nearest tubes and rail stations are at Blackfriars Railway and Tube Station and St Paul's (across the Millenium Bridge)

The RMS Annual Exhibition at the Bankside Gallery

I have to say I think the Bankside Gallery suits the RMS annual exhibition very well.  

• There is ample space for all the cabinets which display the miniatures so very well. 
• The Gallery's own sketchbook display cabinets could also be used for excellent displays of the miniature sculpture. 
• The lighting is very good - plus there is of course lots of clerestory lighting which also improves the look of the exhibition. (The North Galleries at the Mall have become rather cave-like and claustrophobic of late with only a tiny chink of natural light following "improvements" compared to the previous incarnation)

View as you enter the Gallery

Overall, initial impressions were good and the artwork all looked excellent on display. I gather the consensus at the Private View (which I missed due to being at a Press View at Compton Varney - of which more tomorrow) was that there were lots of excellent reasons to make this the Society's "new home" and I have to concur that seems like a very sensible decision.

Hopefully, next year they'll be back at the Bankside Gallery - but maybe not so close to the Annual Exhibition of the Hilliard Society which always takes place in June in Wells, in Somerset. These are the two premier miniature exhibitions in the UK and it would be great to get a bit more space between their exhibition dates. I hope some suitable arrangement can be negotiated with the Bankside Gallery

The last annual exhibition I saw in person was in 2019 - after which there were dislocations due to the pandemic and issues with exhibiting at the Mall Galleries.

To me, the standard of artwork seems to be:

• as good as ever in terms of the quality of the artwork on display, much of which is excellent
• still leaning more towards what I'd call "traditional" subject matter. I liked those that were 'very traditional' and more contemporary.

Sales and Commissions

Filming Landscape Artist of the Year in June 2023

Some of you will recall that back in May, I did a post about Landscape Artist of the Year Filming 2023: Venues, Dates and Wildcards. 

Last month, Storyvault Films were out and about with the Pods around the country filming the next series which will be broadcast in early 2024. 

The three venues for filming the six episodes this summer were:

• Liverpool
• Hever Castle in Kent
• Stonehaven on the Aberdeenshire coast in Scotland. 
  

It was really nice to see lots of pics of proper landscapes - both urban and rural - and no country houses or "novel" (I'm being polite) locations!

Lots of excellent photos of the filming of painting Dunnottar Castle
by Julie Mary Lawler who lives in Stonehaven

After the filming has taken place I go looking for evidence it happened on social media!

You can watch the Semi Final at Buckler's Hard, Hampshire on 12th July 2023. More details at the end.

Location: Liverpool

DATES: Tuesday 13th and Wednesday 14th June 2023

Liverpool - Pier Head

A post by the Liverpool Film Office about the filmining of the episode based at the Pier Head. As predicted the Liver Building was prominent in view!

Liverpool - Albert Docks

First a post by the Albert Docks FB Page

Then a post by a participant

Plus a post by a visitor to the Albert Docks!

Location: Hever Castle in Kent

DATES: Tuesday 20th June and Wednesday 21st June 2023.

First a post by Hever Castle. Looks like I guessed right about one of the locations.

 

Plus a post by a participant - Susan Schramm (lots of photos of all the wildcard artists)

 

 and Ian Head also posted - I'm not sure if he was an artist or just watched

 

Location: Stonehaven in Scotland 

Stonehaven - The Harbour

A couple of posts by the Danielle Graham, an Executive Producer for Storyvault Films who make Landscape Artist of the Year

Call for Entries: ING Discerning Eye 2023

The ever popular ING Discerning Eye 2023 exhibition will be at the Mall Galleries from 17 to 26 November 2023, and online until the 31 December 2023.

The ING Discerning Eye annual exhibition is a show of small, domestic scale, works independently selected by six prominent figures from different areas of the art world: two artists, two collectors and two critics. (ING DE website)

• This post is about the call for entries for the 2022 Exhibition to be held at the Mall Galleries in November - and whats involved in submitting an entry or six!
• The deadline for entries to the 2023 ING Discerning Eye exhibition is Thursday 31 August 2023.

ING Discerning Eye 2022

What you need to know

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition

The only restrictions on the exhibition are that 

• all artwork must all be for sale, 
• the artists must be UK based, 
• artwork must be small - the size of the work can have a MAXIMUM measurement of 50cm in any one dimension
• artwork is chosen by six different people - two artists, two collectors and two critics / people who have art-related occupation
• the artwork exhibited by each selector comes from artists favoured by the selectors and works selected from the open entry
• the selectors must choose at least 25% of their section from the open submission.

In 2023, the exhibition will be 

• on display at the Mall Galleries between 16th and 26th November. 
• plus a virtual gallery showcasing all the artists’ shortlisted works - with commentary and introductions by the selectors.

The Discerning Eye is a visual arts focused educational charity. 

• Its principal activity is to hold a rather unique annual exhibition 
• The Exhibition has been sponsored by ING since 1999 - and hence is known as the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition.

I'd like to start by applauding ING for their continued sponsorship of this open art competition / exhibition.

• ING has been supporting this exhibition every year since 1999!
• This makes it one of the longest corporate art sponsorships in the UK

At a time when art competitions are fast disappearing off the scene (Sunday Times Watercolour / Lynn Painter-Stainers / BP Portrait Award) it's really great to see a commitment to continued sponsorship.

The Selectors

Six Selectors

Once a year the organisers of the ING Discerning Eye exhibition invite six different people - two artists, two collectors and two critics / people who have art-related occupations - to select artwork to hang in the exhibition.

Hence it's not an open exhibition where you have to please all the Jury of Selectors - you only need to please one!

The duties of the selectors are to:

• invite artists they know or whose work they admire
• select artwork submitted via the open entry

Each selector's chosen artworks are hung in a dedicated area of the Galleries and hence you get a chance to see whether the selector has 

• a carefully curated or a very eclectic approach to what they like
• either embraces the open entry - or sticks very closely to the artwork they know and like with a minimum number of pieces chosen from the open entry

The 2023 Selectors are....

Two artists

• Chris Levine, Artist
• Julian Wild, Artist and Lecturer

Two art collectors

• Tony Adams, Former footballer and Collector
• Ian "H" Watkins, Singer and Collector

Two critics / people who have art-related occupation

• Peju Oshin, Critic, Curator, Writer and Lecturer
• Eliza Gluckman, Director, Government Art Collection

Small Works

The other aspect which is unique is that this is an exhibition about small artworks. Details below of what that means

Prizes

There are a range of prizes and in this era of disappearing art competitions, it's worth noting that some are valuable.

In 2023, the prizes are valued at £14,000 - including

• ING Purchase Prize, £5,000
• The Discerning Eye Founder’s Prize - in honour of Michael Reynolds, £2,500
• The Drawing Bursary Prize, £1,500
• The Discerning Eye Chair’s Purchase Prize, £1,000
• The Mervyn Metcalf Purchase Prize, £500
• Parker Harris Prize: one year’s subscription to The Art Ladder mentoring programme for artists, and two one-to-one mentoring sessions, worth £600
• The Discerning Eye Sculpture Prize, £300
• The Discerning Eye Cityscape Prize, £300
• The Discerning Eye Landscape Prize, £300
• The Discerning Eye Portrait Prize, £300
• The Discerning Eye Print Prize, £300
• Regional Prizes, 7 prizes of £250 each awarded to an outstanding entry from the national regions
• Tabish Khan’s Critic Purchase Prize, £200

Those who have not entered before

If you have not submitted before - or if you have submitted but not been selected, you can read more about past exhibitions and see the sort of artwork this exhibition attracts:

• in my past blog posts reviewing the exhibition (see end of this post)
• in the archive of exhibitions on the Discerning Eye website - which has digitised all past exhibited work in every year back to 1990!

Call for Entries: ING Discerning Eye 2023

Ruth Borchard Portrait Prize and Exhibition 2023

The Winner of the £10,000 Ruth Borchard Prize was announced last week - and the exhibition was opened.

This post is about:

• the winner of the £10000 Ruth Borchard Prize 2023
• the Exhibition - Online
• the Self Portraits - the good and less good aspects
• the lack of an Archive

Sadly, for those of use who used to visit the exhibition of diverse self-portraits by a varied collection of artists, theexhibition is only available ONLINE ONLY at present - until December 2023.

However there will be  a curated selection of distinguished and shortlisted artworks (that means NOT all the selected art) on display in an exhibition at The Atkinson Museum, Southport, from September - December 2023. The exhibition will coincide with the Liverpool Arts Biennial in 2023.

Ruth Borchard Prize 2023 (£10,000)

The winner is Colin Davidson 

Colin Davidson is a contemporary artist, living and working near Belfast, Northern Ireland. Since graduating in 1991 from the University of Ulster with a first-class honours degree, he has structured his practice in themes, and since 2010 his focus has been on painting grand scale portraits, which have won widespread recognition and many international awards. As well as numerous commissions, Davidson’s portrait sitters have included Brad Pitt, Ed Sheeran, Liam Neeson, Brian Friel, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Christy Moore, Dame Mary Peters, Gary Lightbody, Marketa Irglova, Glen Hansard, Mark Knopfler and Seamus Heaney. His work is held in many public and corporate collections worldwide (from his website)

This was his winning artwork which he calls a 3D Painting. I guess, this is his original digital submission and it does suggest scale rather effectively - and is maybe a bit bigger than people imagined?

Self Portrait (2022) by Colin Davidson

Acrylic paint and oil paint on Polylactic acid

105 x 78 x 54 cm | 41 3/8 x 30 3/4 x 21 1/4 in

POA

As a painter, I am always looking for opportunities to use paint in new ways. To exploit the myriad different possibilities which oil paint, in particular, has to offer. Here is a recent self-portrait. I suppose it’s a big, 3-dimensional selfie. But it is, first and foremost, a framed, wall-hung painting. Using the medium of acrylic and oil paint itself to sculpt with.

The announcement was made via video and can be viewed on:

  

The work was selected from over 1800 entries by this years judges who included: 

• Gabriele Finaldi (Director of the National Gallery), 
• Melanie Gerlis (Financial Times Art Market Columnist), 
• Andrea Rose (former Director of the British Council), 
• Stephen Whittle (Principal Manager The Atkinson Museum), 
• Lucy Jones (2021 Prize Winner) and 
• David Borchard (grandson of Ruth Borchard).

(When they say "included" does that mean other people were involved too - and if so who are these Judges?)

 

The Ruth Borchard Exhibition - Online

The Self-Portrait Prize Online Exhibition presents a selection of noteworthy entries to the 2023 competition. It highlights the diversity of contemporary self-portraiture and the continuing importance of this uniquely personal subgenre of art. The Online Exhibition includes a cross-section of self-portraits from around the world, made by artists at all stages of their careers in a range of media

The Online Exhibition is available from 23 June to 20 December 2023

Given the Prize is run on a triennial basis, all the portraits have been made in the last three years.

What is excellent about the online exhibition is that:

Review: New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2023

When I walked into the Private View of the Annual Exhibition 2023 of the New English Art Club (NEAC) yesterday, I was immediately struck by the new approach to hanging the exhibition in the East Gallery (see my Facebook banner this week!)

The East Gallery on Private View Day

For the very first time large artworks have been grouped and hung from the top to the bottom of the East Wall. 

Plus the acronym NEAC is very strident on the north walls of both the East and West Galleries.

West Gallery - Preview Day

It shouts "presence" - and coincides with the Summer Exhibition 2023 of the Royal Academy of Arts - from which the founding members of NEAC broke away back in 1885 to provide an alternative venue for showing art.

Since then it has become the national art society that members of other national art societies want to be members of. Indeed, when the artists selected from the open entry are reviewed, very many of them are members of other art societies and some are candidates for membership.

However, having both on at the same time provides an excellent reason for those outside London to make a trip (and possibly stay over) and visit both on a back to back basis!

This is a review of the exhibition. I cover:

• how to see the exhibition
• events during the exhibition
• observations on the exhibition
• artwork I liked

I'll be doing the stats about percentage of artists / artworks / sales relating to the open entry in a future blog post. 

How to see NEAC Annual Exhibition 2023  

I would ALWAYS recommend that all those wanting to submit work to the exhibition try and make an effort to see it in person.

You can:

• view the exhibition in all three galleries of the Mall Galleries
• Dates: 23 June to 1 July 2023
• Hours: 10am - 5pm
• view the artworks online on the Mall Galleries website
• view my photos of the exhibition in the three albums I've uploaded to my Facebook Page
• West Gallery
• East Gallery
  
• North Gallery

Works are also available to buy both in the gallery and online - but will remain hanging in the exhibition until it has finished. There was a healthy show of red dots at the Private View. 

I'll be doing my statistics review of the show - including prices and sales and the ratio of members to open artists at a later date.

Two paintings by Judith Gardner NEAC RBA
her paintings snapped up fast as per usual

Exhibition Tours and Events

You can find out more details on NEAC Events Programme

• Sunday 25 June (12:30pm to 4:30pm): Portrait Painting Demo with Andrew James RP NEAC
• Monday 26 June: Exhibition Tours with Louise Balaam NEAC RWA - Tours will begin at 11am, 1pm and 3pm
• Tuesday 27 June (11am to 4pm): Sketchbook-making Demo with Robert E Wells NEAC RBA
• Tuesday 27 June: NEAC Annual Lecture: Thomas Hennell by Jessica Kilburn
• Wednesday 28 June: Exhibition Tours (11am and 2pm) and Sketching with Michael Weller NEAC
• Thursday 29 June: Exhibition Tours (beginning at begin at 11am, 1pm and 3pm) with Salliann Putman NEAC RWS
• Friday 30 June (11am to 4pm): Egg Tempera Painting Demo with Ruth Stage NEAC
• Saturday 1 July: Exhibition Tours (11am and 2pm) and Demo with Clare Haward NEAC

Prizes and Awards

You can read about The New English Art Club 2023 | Award Winners in this post. I've highlighted some of them in my albums of photos on Facebook.

View of part of the West Gallery

Observations about NEAC Annual Exhibition 2023

My observations this year are based on assertions in the catalogue and observations in the galleries on broad themes which are recurrent across exhibitions.

View of West Gallery on the afternoon of Private View Day

Bold claims matched by reality?

NEAC has never been afraid of making some bold claims. Below is a quotation from the email about the opening of the exhibition. While I would certainly agree with the second paragraph, the first is maybe rather over ambitious. I think there are one or two other art societies which might want to dispute this assertion.

The New English Art Club (NEAC) exhibits the very best in figurative, observational and painterly work in the UK.

The NEAC Annual Exhibition 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, while underpinned by drawing.

When you make a claim as bold as this - you have to live up to it.