Review - 123rd Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters

Jennifer McRae's portrait "Conversations with Duncan" has won the £10,000 Ondaatje Prize plus the RSPP Gold Medal at the 123rd Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters for the most distinguished portrait of the year. Jennifer is not a member but was invited by the Society's President to submit a work.

In my opinion, it's a stunning work and it's worth going to the exhibition to see this painting alone. However there's another 215 paintings to see as well! You can see the exhibition at the Mall Galleries - it opens to the public from tomorrow until 23rd May 2014.

Here's a closer look at the head and the background of "Conversations with Duncan".

Conversations with Duncan by Jennifer McRae
A painting where you can play "spot the portrait' - contributions as comments please!
The wall of postcard sized drawings and paintings
includes her own portrait of Michael Frayn in the yellow jacket which is in the National Portrait Gallery
I spotted and recognised about 10 more at first glance - why not see how well you do?

......and below is the full length portrait.

What you don't see so well - unless familiar with Jennifer's wonderful "makes me green with envy" technique is that she paints in very washy oils. In fact she's the only oil painter I know who makes her work look like watercolour. Her works also has a quality which reminds me of Holbein - it's something to do with the draughtsmanship and the understated quality of much of her work. Never ever flashy and always unmistakably her own work. I recognised it as soon as I walked in and immediately commented on it being a very impressive work. I was in no way surprised to find she won the Ondaatje Prize - it deserved to!

Conversations with Duncan by Jennifer McRae
oil, 140 x 114c, (55 x 44 inches)
Not for sale

Flora Watson receiving her award

Prizes

The other prizes awarded were as follows.

The de Lazlo Foundation Award (£3,000) for the artist aged 35 years judged to have submitted the best portrait - won by Flora Watson for Studio 2C. I have to say I much preferred her painting in last year's show which I thought was wonderful. (see
Bulldog Bursary 2013: Shortlisted artists)

The Changing Faces Prize (£2,000) for the portrait which most powerfully conveys the energy of their subject, the directness of the gaze and an attitude that exudes openness and confidence - won by Saied Dai RP, NEAC for his portrait of Jonathan Miller.

I really liked this portrait a lot and I'm pleased to say this was the second painting I picked out at the beginning of the show as outstanding.  For those who enjoy painting in oils do go and study his technique which, on its own, makes this a portrait which stands out.  Saied is also a painter for whom drawing is very important and this emphasis is highlighted in the draughtsmanship  in this painting.

The Arrival of Spring - David Hockney's latest exhibition

Something like 85% of digital drawings in The Arrival of Spring sold before David Hockney's new exhibition opens tomorrow at Annely Juda Fine Art.  However the stars of the exhibition are a new set of charcoal drawings completed in Spring 2013 - and they're not yet for sale.  I imagine when the time comes they'll either be donated to a major art gallery or museum or they will be sold as a complete set - and if that ever happens it will take somebody with very deep pockets.

"Woldgate, The Arrival of Spring in 2013" - 4 of the five series of five drawingscharcoal drawings

"The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011"

The 20 colour prints in "The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011" were drawn on Hockney's iPad and were part of the set of some 50 works shown at the Royal Academy of Arts in his blockbuster show in 2012.  They were all drawn knowing that at some point they would become large prints.  In this show a few of them have become very large prints!  There's one new print in the show

The colour prints are now being marketed for the very first time which perhaps explains the very keen interest despite the fact that the prices of these small limited edition prints are eye-watering.

"The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011" by David Hockney
(Left to right) 1 January 2011, 4 January 2011 and 18 December 2011
The print on the right is a new one which was not included in the RA show and records winter rain

"The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011" by David Hockney
(Left to right) 18 March 2011, 25 April 2011, 1 April 2011, 18 January 2011 and 23 February 2011
139.7 cm x 105.4cm

"Woldgate, The Arrival of Spring in 2013"

"The Chinese say black and white contains colour, and so it can"
David Hockney

On the third floor are six series of charcoal drawings, all drawn on an entire sheet of Arches Aquarelles with the impressed makers name always bottom right - plus a video. These comprise

• 5 series of drawings - each series containing five drawings - all done between January and May 2013
• a series of drawings titled "Vandalised Totem".  which had been first vandalised and then cut down - made in November 2012, following a minor stroke
• a video made in winter 2010 of the road along Woldgate in heavy snow. 

Vandalized Totem by David Hockney
charcoal drawings 57.5cm x 78.8cm
signed and numbered
November - December 2012

He was making these drawings having recently suffered a minor stroke. The first drawing in November 2012 took two days but after that he says he found he concentrated more - and for the next six months he did nothing but draw in charcoal.

To me they're more sophisticated than the ones I saw at the RA - and I was very impressed by those!(see Review: David Hockney RA - A Bigger Picture - Making a Mark and Hockney is bigger than Van Gogh! - I visited the exhibition four times!)

One knockout aspect for me was the charcoal drawings - which were simply stunning. I never ever tired of looking at these - but only appreciated the relevance of him drawing trees and wood in charcoal on my last visit.

Gregory who runs the business end of Hockney back in Los Angeles said he felt that the drawings were different from the ones before.  To my mind, one very obvious reason they look different is because they're a considered series of five drawings of a place he now knows very well indeed.  Walking into the third floor space, one is immediately made aware of the impact of charcoal drawings when done as a series of drawings of the same space over a period of time. The drawings also remind you very much of the subtlety that charcoal has in the hands of somebody who knows how to use it.

Woldgate - from the Arrival of Spring in 2013 by David Hockney
(left to right, top then bottom) 6-7 February, 6 May, 12-13 May, 20-21 May, 27 May

I personally found that they kept reminding me of Van Gogh's reed pen drawings of the countryside and trees in Provence.  Hockney uses the same variety of in notations and mark-making used for trees and leaves and grass which felt very familiar and comfortable. (I'm a huge fan of Van Gogh's drawings - if you'd like to find out more about his drawings you can download the catalogue of the exhibition of Van Gogh's drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on their publications website - for free)

I definitely recommend this exhibition to anybody who is a fan of Hockney, a fan of landscape drawings, a fan of digital art or charcoal drawings - and if you're all of these, as I am now, you'll have a truly wonderful experience!

Plus the video of Woldgate continues to mesmerise - just as it did at the RA!

One of the nine screens displaying the journey along the snow road of Woldgate in 2010.
You can play 'spot the totem' as it used to be!

The catalogue is also excellent - very good reproduction and well presented.

The exhibition continues until 12 July and can be seen at Annely Juda Fine Art, 4th Floor, 23 Dering StreetLondon W1S 1AW.

How do you market an exhibition or open studios?

Here's a reminder of some material I highlighted on this blog some time ago.  This has been prompted by the fact that I've had about four different versions of the same question asked today - which all relate to how do you market art via an exhibition or open studios.

So here are links to my pdf article guides (on my website) about press releases and publicity. The titles contain the link to the page where you can download the free guide.

Neither guide is specifically about open studios but information contained in the guides is relevant to such events.

The art of writing a press release

Who is this guide for?	What does this guide cover?
This Guide explains what you need to know if: you’ve ever written a Press Release but lacked guidance on how to go about it; or if you’ve issued a Press Release but it failed to achieve the impact you had hoped for; or one day soon, you think you might want to write a Press Release......	This Making A Mark Guide provides guidance on  the really important and really difficult bit - being creative the essential but technically difficult bit - how to stick to the 'rules' of writing a press release so your press release gets read! the boring but very necessary bit - how to make sure it ends up in the right place All on no more than two sides of A4 - just like a good press release!

How to get publicity for art competitions and open exhibitions

Who is this guide for?

What does this guide cover?

This spreadsheet is for: organisers of art competitions and open exhibitions Board / Committee members of relevant art societies or organising groups people who think there's some scope to improve on current perfornance It helps you to: identify how to get publicity for an art competition or open exhibition how to keep costs down and get publicity for free how to make sure your marketing is both efficient and effective

This Making A Mark Guide provides a checklist of various action points - plus notes - associated with: managing who organises the marketing making the most of the opportunities for free publicity obtaining, sizing and processing images for publication information that needs to be published for artists and exhibition visitors organising an informative press release and press preview making the most of the presentation of prizes

4 May 2014 - Who's made a mark?

Society of Botanical Artists Exhibition Invitation

I'm back "on the book" this month - we're now at the editing / design / layout stage and refinement re images.  For those involved I may be getting back to you!

As before this post is a recap of:

• recent posts on this blog
• things I've seen and highlighted on my Facebook Page. Many thanks to all those who have 'liked' my Facebook Page in the last two weeks. It took me nearly 6 years to get to 2,000 likes and under two weeks to collect another 200! :)
• other items I've seen and bookmarked to include in this post - and there's a heavy emphasis on art exhibitions this week.

Art blogs

Artists

Say 'Hello' to Andy Wood - the brand NEW President of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour. Andy was previously the Secretary of the RI. He's one of a very few painters in watercolour to have broken into and become acclaimed within the Chinese watercolour painting community.  Last year Andy was one of the judges of the Shenzhen International Watercolor Biennial in 2013 (Facebook Page)

For those wondering whether a change in President means any change to the scope and style of paintings favoured by the RI, my guess is Andy would say that's up to the selection panel.  However, below I've included my photo of some of his paintings - as exhibited in the recent annual exhibition of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour.

Watercolour Paintings by Andy Wood PRI

Joanna Trollope, Author (left)
presenting Suzanne du Toit (right)
with the BP Portrait Prize 2013

Suzanne du Toit, winner of the BP Portrait Award 2013, has written an article for the BBC on her Top 10 tips for being an artist.

It proved very popular when I posted it on Facebook so if you missed it there why not take a look?

Botanical Art

• Following the RHS Botanical Art Show in the Lindley Hall, this my very popular annual post - Interviews with six RHS Botanical Art Gold Medal Winners (2014)
• I want to celebrate those who have overcome a lack of confidence enough to put their work forward for scrutiny and judgement.  Particularly those who then get a distinction in their Diploma - but let Jarnie Godwin (Sketchbook Squirrel) tell you about 'Enjoy What you Do
• If you ever fancy a change, these are the workshops in botanical art at the New York Botanical Gardens. 

Collage Art

• Anticipating that artists who have visited the Matisse exhibition will be stimulated to wield their scissors, tThe May Share Your Art project on The Guardian focuses on Collage Art. You can see the work being shared on A cut above: share your collages now - and I have to say they are absolutely fascinating.  Check out An Election Entertainment after Hogarth by Emma Richardson

Drawing and sketching 

• Shevaun Doherty (Botanical Sketches) wrote about sketching natural history subjects in Museums Sketching 
• I once went to a lecture by Gerald Scarfe at the end of which he drew in pen and ink - it's quite scary! This week he gave an interview to The Guardian 

In general, Gerald draws on thick cartridge paper which is approximately 83cm x 60cm (34 x 24 inches), although some drawings are smaller. He mainly works in pen and black ink, adding water colour later. - See more at: http://www.geraldscarfe.com/originals/#sthash.0jA8VzIr.dpuf

Landscapes

• I recently came across the landscape paintings of Mary Bentz Gilkerson who is a Professor of Art at Columbia University. This is her website and this is her blog - and you can find her workshops here
• Wanderarti takes urban sketching to the next level - I think. It's a website which focuses on the art that people are making about places but has not limited it to just sketching.  It includes an interview with Laura Frankstone. (Laurelines)

Miniatures

• Congratulations to David Lawton (Facebook) has been told he's qualified for membership of the Hilliard Society based on the quality of his work alone. David now needs to get himself a website (hint!)

Portraiture

• A selfie state of mind: How the British perfected the art of the self-portrait - is an article in the Independent which traces the involvement of British artists in the development of the self-portrait. Linked of course to the publication of a book! (‘The Self-Portrait: a Cultural History’ by James Hall, is published by Thames & Hudson)

Street Art 

• Jonathan Jones got sniffy with Street Art and Banksy recently. New Banksy? Whatever. Graffiti is just a tame in-joke for Guardian readers

All good fun. Sadly it has nothing to do with art. Banksy is a cultural phenomenon but not an artistic one.

Art Business & Marketing 

Van Dyck self portrait saved for the nation by most successful fundraising campaign ever

The Save Van Dyck's Self Portrait  fundraising campaign jointly run by the National Portrait Gallery and the Art Fund has proved to be the most successful campaign run in the last 100 years. A substantial Heritage Lottery Grant supplements funds already raised and the iconic Van Dyck self portrait will now stay in Britain.

It will also be made much more accessible to people around the country through a National Tour.

(l to r) Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery,
Dame Jenny Bramsky, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund
Stephen Deuchar, Director of the Art Fund
celebrate the Van Dyck self portrait staying in the UK

About the painting

The painting is Sir Anthony Van Dyck’s last self-portrait. It's regarded as being a work of huge international importance. The painting shows his as an artist at work, apparently in the act of painting, his arm raised in the process of applying paint to a canvas just out of sight.

As Sandy Nairne said this morning at the preview, it's as if you've walked into his studio in Blackfriars in 1641 and he's just turned around to look at you.

Van Dyck's Self Portrait (1640-1)
now on display adjacent to the 17th Century Galleries
on the Second Floor of the National Portrait Gallery

The painting was completed in the year van Dyck died and the year before Civil War broke out in the UK.

Van Dyck was buried in Old St Paul's Cathedral (which burned down in 1666). His epitaph was

"Anthony van Dyck - who, while he lived, gave to many immortal life"

How the figures totted up in the end

In March, the buyer withdrew and the export bar was halted on 26 March.  A revised price was agreed and this effectively reduced the sum required to keep the portrait in the country from £12.5 million to £10 million.

The campaign has managed to raise:

• £1.4 million from 10,000 individuals - including multiple five figure gifts from an anonymous American supporter - which makes it the most successful appeal for a painting in the last 100 years
• a pledge of £1 million from the Monument Trust (one of the The Sainsbury Family Trusts; the Sainsbury Family have been major patrons of art in this country)
• a six figure pledge from the Garfield Weston Foundation
• £700,000 from the NPG's Portrait Fund and an acquisitions budget
• £500,000 from the Art Fund
• and finally a £6,343,500 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund

A £150,000 grant has also been secured from the Art Fund to contribute towards the costs of a national tour of the painting. 

A National Tour!

The Van Dyck self portrait will tour the UK starting in January 2015. The tour will take three years with the painting returning to London inbetween each loan out to a regional gallery.

The proposed venues are 

• Turner Contemporary, Margate (January 2015)
• Manchester Art Gallery (2015)
• Dulwich Picture Gallery, London (2016) where it will meet up with a number of portraits by Van Dyck.
• Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (2016)
• Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle (2017)
• Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh (2017)

If you're wondering about the cake - we celebrated with cake!