LAST CALL - Annual Open Exhibition 2020 of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters

The deadline for the Call for digital entries for the annual exhibition in 2020 of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters is Friday 17 January 2020, 12 noon.

You've got just over 3 days left to complete your entry.

One of the prizewinners in 2019 is on the left

For some reason this Call for Entries escaped my "to do" list created by sitting down and creating draft posts for calls for entries. It must have been the next one after I did the last lot!

This is an OPEN exhibition which any serious portrait painter should think very seriously about entering due to the high quality of the non-members exhibits and the scope to attract commissions for future portraits.

The Royal Society of Portrait Painters seeks submissions of new and traditional artistic models and perspectives in portraiture. The Society welcomes paintings, drawings and original prints.

Below you can find:

• reasons why you SHOULD enter the exhibition if you are a serious portrait painter
• a review of the chances of getting exhibited
• summary details about the exhibition including....
• details of the prizes - which are one very good reason why this exhibition is worth entering
• summary of "how to enter"

Corner of the Main Gallery in 2019

Reasons why you should enter the RP's annual exhibition

For those wondering why they should submit an entry to this exhibition, take a look at the following.

Entry is digital

• You only need to go to the expense of framing and transport if invited to progress to the second stage of selection.

The Importance of Exhibitions to Portrait Commissions

• This exhibition generates a LOT of portrait commissions. This exhibition is very much a marketing shop window. Take a look at my 2015 post Top 10 portrait painters - and a commissions checklist 
• Exhibiting artists are invited to display additional material
• An expert Commissions Consultant service runs throughout the show (usually based in the North Gallery)

Some significant prizes

• This is an exhibition with some heavyweight cash prizes 
• see the list of prizes in 2020 below
• see last year's winners in Prizewinners at the 128th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters

A prestigious exhibition and an Online Exhibition

• This is a very prestigious exhibition. It fills all three galleries at the Mall Galleries on the Mall in London.
• The exhibition is also put online so it can be seen all over the world. 

Why it compares favourably to the BP Portrait

• ALL works selected for exhibition from the Open Entry are chosen by practising professional portrait artists who are full members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. There are no administrators, sponsors, gallerists, art critics or other such éminence grise who get a say on what gets hung.
• See my 2016 blog post Comparison of the RSPP Open and BP Portrait Award Competition which analysed the similarities and differences and concluded that more artists should submit to this Open Exhibition. I've no reason to change my opinion.

HOWEVER 

.....while I had felt in previous years that this exhibition has started to improve (see Review: Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters 2017 and Review: Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition - Unstuffed!), the exhibition last year felt rather as if it had returned to a more traditional exhibition - with corporate portraits of too many men in grey suits.

It felt a bit like it had backtracked to previous exhibitions about which I've been a tad critical in the past.

plus the hang was rather odd

"stuffed shirts" next to "Skin" does seem incongruous and makes for a very curious juxtaposition - which can create a feeling of visual confusion.

Your chances of getting exhibited: Exhibition Metrics

Things you need to know - based on the works by non-members hung in the 2019 exhibition

Third series of The Great Pottery Throw Down on Channel 4

Last week there must have been a lot of people who were very pleased to find out that Series 3 of The Great Pottery Throw Down has started - this time on Channel 4.

I'm not intending to write about it - apart from this post - but will be watching.

Below is a short intro to the new series - highlighting the changes and where to find out more.

Middleport Pottery in Stoke on Trent is the venue for the Great Pottery Showdown

I've no idea why BBC shut the series down. It struck me as rather successful. However the great thing about having independent production companies produce such shows is that they can try and pitch elsewhere if the BBC won't recommission.

The channel of choice seems to be Channel 4 (which of course, like the BBC, is publicly owned) - probably because the company which makes (Love Productions) also makes The Great British Bake Off which also transferred to Channel 4.

Which makes me ponder whether the axing of Pottery Throw Down was more to do with who made it than whether or not it was popular......

Fire up your kilns and get your aprons ready. Here's the 12 potters stepping up to the wheel, along with host @MsMelanieSykes and judges @KBJWhitstable and @Sue_Pryke.

The Great Pottery Throw Down starts Wednesday 8th January at 9pm on More 4. #potterythrowdown pic.twitter.com/ZLIuuoZpXs

— The Great Pottery Throw Down (@PotteryThrow) 3 January 2020

The format seems to be virtually identical with a few changes

• there are now 12 potters instead of 10 - which explains why the studio looks a tad more crowded
• the presenter has changed. It's now Melanie Sykes rather than Sara Cox. She's a good host who seems to strike the right sort of tone.
• the sexual innuendo remains intact (!) This episode it was pulling the clay to make handles....
• one of the Judges has changed. 
• Kate Malone has been swopped out and they've brought in Sue Pryke - who is an experienced ceramic designer for large industrial production runs - who has worked with large companies such as Marks and Spencer, John Lewis, Ikea and Royal Doulton. She also teaches part-time and has lectured at the RCA, Central St Martin's and De Montfort University, UK.
• Keith (sobs over pottery) Brymer Jones remains in situ and cries even more in the first episode! His blog has a couple of relevant blog posts for those new to the series
• Who is Keith Brymer Jones? The judge behind the wheel
• The Great Pottery Throw Down – Episode 1 recap - DO READ - very interesting!

Did you know we are not allowed to meet the potters before we start filming? ......The reason for not being able to meet the potters is very real and very credible: conflict of interest. If we were to meet them and felt more akin to some more than others we might favour their work more before even seeing it. The underlying and fundamental theme of the show is ‘the clay’ and what they do with it. It’s that simple! Keith Brymer Jones

The Studio where they work - with the Drying Room at the back

The Potters

It appears that the bulk of the potters are amateurs with a noted bias towards the younger end of the age range (i.e. two-thirds are under 35.

TIPS for entries to the 2020 RA Summer Exhibition

This is a longer Guide to the Call for Entries for the 2020 Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. I gave a brief summary of what you need to do in RA Summer Exhibition 2020: Call for Entries (SHORT version)

I used to do a detailed long guide to how to enter but I'm not convinced people read it. (If you want to read last year's take a look at my detailed guide last year (but ignore the 12,000 entries bit- they dropped that without telling anybody!)

This post covers background advice and tips relating:

• The Largest Open Exhibition
• Observations on the Selection and Hanging Committee
• TIPS for Submission
• Photography Matters
• Pricing and Selling 

The VERY Overcrowded Entrance to the Exhibition
left me wondering whether the Health and Safety People has been asked to comment.....

The Largest Open Exhibition

This is the largest open exhibition in the world. A huge number of artworks get hung or displayed in the exhibition.

Consequently the curation is critical to the success of the exhibition.  I confess I really notice the difference each year based on who curated it and who was on the Selection and Hanging Committee. The exhibitions oscillate between marvellous and boring - with quite a lot of tedium and rather too few gems.

Last year was just weird. It felt like the least curated exhibition ever. In the end I was so bored by last year's exhibition that I walked out before the end, did not go back and did not write a blog post about it. I do however have a stack of photos - but I keep reminding myself I only photographed what I liked and not the complete mishmash inbetween.

On the other hand the RA reckons they had their best ever sales last year. I'd like to know whether that best ever relates to number of sales or value of sales. Whichever I suspect a vast number of sales are accounted for by the fine art prints which are often very affordable and popular artworks have many red dots!

See more about Pricing and Selling below.

Sarah Rogers - Sleeping Mouse (not 2019)

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for all Printmakers

I very much recommend this exhibition to all those people who are skilled fine art printmakers - particularly those who work in series and sell at affordable prices (under £1,000). 

There are a lot of people who visit and try to buy an artwork from the Summer Exhibition and they invariably, for budget reasons, choose a print.

Take a look at the prints which were exhibited last year - and also take a look at their pricing and don't get silly. Overpriced prints do not sell whereas reasonably priced ones just walk off the walls. I always do a calculation every year in relation to some of the prints of what the value of the print has been in terms of the sales achieved.

For example, the one below - on the day I visited - had netted gross sales (of the framed print @ £560 on display and other unframed original prints @ £450) of £11,380 - and bear in mind it's one of a series of four with different views of London. People do like to collect....

Richmond Park - etching by Mychael Barrett (part of a series)
One of my favourite prints in 2019

I sometimes wonder why the RA don't do a separate shorter exhibition just for the fine art printmakers - but based on the same principles as the Summer Exhibition.  They would sell enormous numbers of prints if they did.

Selection and Hanging Committee 2020: Observations

Archives of British Art and Funding Opportunities at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

On trips around various art websites, I sometimes find some real goldmines of art history. Such as happened today when I came across the Archive Collections associated with British Art on the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art website

[PS The next blog post about the Summer Exhibition will be tomorrow - it's taking rather longer than I expected]

It's a bit of heaven for those who like researching British Art! Thus we have just a few examples....

Art Prizes

• Hunting Art Prize - material relating to the Hunting Art Prizes (HAP) which ran from 1981 to 2005. Spot a young looking Lord Gowrie and Daphne Todd below

Art Critics

• William Packer - relates to William Packer's work as an art critic and includes his copy for published articles of art criticism, mainly prior to editorial intervention.
• Brian Sewell (1931 - 2015) - 70 boxes - which he had organised himself (and I assume "edited")
• articles pertaining to art and the arts (boxlist 1)
• a smaller group of materials concerning his writings on any other subject matter (boxlist 2).
• material covers every other aspect of Sewell’s life, from childhood to death (boxlist 3).

Brian Sewell (1931 – 2015) was a British art historian, author, critic, and media personality. After graduating from the Courtauld Institute of Art, he worked at Christie’s (1957-1967); as an independent dealer (1967-1980), and as a journalist, most notably for the Evening Standard (1984-2015).

Art Historians

• Paul Oppé - 34 boxes of material that reflects his work as an art historian, critic, museum official and art collector

He also inaugurated the study of British drawings as a scholarly pursuit.

• Benedict Nicholson - archive comprises seventeen personal diaries, six folders of correspondence and a small amount of reference and research material.

Lionel Benedict Nicolson (1914–1978) was a British art historian and author. He was the elder son of authors Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West. He was Deputy Surveyor of the King’s Pictures (1939-1947), serving in British Army Intelligence for the duration of the Second World War. He was editor of the Burlington Magazine (1947-1978). 

• Roy Strong - 34 boxes containing research papers relating to Strong's publications and other research

Sir Roy Colin Strong (b.1935) is art historian, museum director, writer and broadcaster and landscape designer. He was Assistant Keeper (1959-1967), then Director (1967-1973) of the National Portrait Gallery and Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum (1974-1987).

Scholarship

The Centre has a Funding Programme which supports scholarship, academic research and the dissemination of knowledge in the field of British art and architectural history from the medieval period to the present. Awards are made twice a year, in Spring and Autumn.

All supported topics must have a historical perspective and all applications must demonstrate that there is a substantial element of British art and/or architectural history to their project.

The next round of funding opportunities close on the 31 January 2020! 

In this round you can apply for:

• Senior Fellowships
• Mid Career Fellowships
• Postdoctoral Fellowships
• Junior Fellowships
• Rome Fellowship
• Terra-PMC Fellowship
• Research Support Grants
• Event Support Grants

This is the Guidance for Individuals.

Where to find The Paul Mellon Centre for British Art

The Paul Mellon Centre for British Art can be found:

• Address: Paul Mellon Centre, 16 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3JA, United Kingdom
• website: https://www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePaulMellonCentre/

RA Summer Exhibition 2020: Call for Entries (SHORT version)

The Call for Entries for the Summer Exhibition 2020 at the Royal Academy of Arts was published yesterday - and this post should have been published yesterday as well but instead I was at the dentist having a complicated procedure!

I write a guide to the Summer Exhibition Call for Entries every year. Here is

• This is the summary/short version (today) - for those who don't like long reads and 
• You can read the long version (tomorrow) where I 
• summarise my perspective on the call for entries and 
• highlight all the aspects bits you might miss which might trip you up and waste your entry/money!

Installation view of the Summer Exhibition 2019 at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
Photo © Royal Academy of Arts David Parry

Summer Exhibition - The Short Version

1. If you've never entered before I recommend you read the long version too!
2. You NEED TO READ carefully:
• Terms and Conditions
• Instructions for Entering Work
• Guide to Selling
3. Who can enter: any 
• artist living or dead (or their representative)
• artist collaborations
• under your own name or a pseudonym
4. How to enter - and get screened:
• Register for an artist account and sign in (or sign into one you've previously registered)
• Purchase an entry form one or two works, for a fee of £35 per work
• Enter the details and upload digital images of the ORIGINAL artwork as per prescribed image limits
• make sure your price takes account of both commission and VAT due to the RA if a work is sold
• complete application, payment and upload prior to the deadline
5. Deadline for Entries: 23:59 (GMT) on 17 February 2020 
6. Results of Round 1 screening: 12 March- first round (digital images)
7. Account Status re. your Entry moves through:
• Submitted
• Shortlisted OR Not selected
8. Judges invite 4,000 artists to Stage 2 Judging - and to deliver actual work. You are sent an entry pack containing labels and barcodes to affix to it re. delivery of your artwork to the RA.
9. Delivery of shortlisted works 
• Architecture (Models and Wall-Based Works) 5 May 8am-5pm 
• Artist’s Book, Drawing, Mixed Media, Painting, Photograph, Print Wednesday 6 May 8am – 7pm
• Sculpture 7 May 10am-5pm 
10. Results of Round 2 Judging of actual entries: 23 May- final round (shortlisted works)
11. Attend Exhibition Varnishing Day Reception (on your own / no guests) Monday 1 June 2020
12. 2020 Exhibition: 9 June — 16 August 2020
13. Collect unselected artwork by 20 June 2020
14. Handle any sales of your artwork - for duration of exhibition (i.e. why you MUST read the Guide to Selling)
15. Collect exhibited but unsold work - between Saturday 22 August and Friday 11 September 2020. You MUST present the hard copy of the Removal Order issued by the RA to collect work or go home empty handed!

Coming up - The Long Version

Tomorrow I'll be posting the Long Version of the Call for Entries which will include:

• commentary on the Summer Exhibition and reasons why it is/isn't a good idea to submit work to this open exhibition
• observations about the Judges
• tips and details you may miss about the process for entering your artwork into the largest open exhibition in the work.

This is particularly relevant to:

• anybody who has not submitted before
• anybody who is unclear about what ORIGINAL means
• anybody who has not sent artwork to an open exhibition before
• anybody who hasn't spotted that this open exhibition is different when it comes to sales
• any international artist who hasn't spotted to the two major hurdles you must clear if you want artwork accepted for exhibition