Royal Academy

From Freepedia

This article refers to an art institution in London. For other meanings of Royal Academy see Royal Academy (disambiguation).

Image:RoyalAcademy20040807 CopyrightKaihsuTai.jpg

The Royal Academy is an art institution based in London.

Contents

History

The Royal Academy was formed to rival the Society of Artists after an unseemly leadership dispute between two leading architects, Sir William Chambers and James Paine. Paine won, but Chambers vowed revenge and used his strong connections with the King to create a new artistic body, the Royal Academy, in 1768. It was formally launched the following year.

Its forty founder members, all admitted on 10 December 1768, included a father/daughter combination (George Michael Moser and Mary Moser) and two sets of brothers (George Dance the Younger and Nathaniel Dance-Holland, and Paul and Thomas Sandby).

Sir Joshua Reynolds was its first president, and Benjamin West its second.

Activities

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The Royal Academy does not receive financial support from the state or crown. One of its principal sources of revenue is hosting temporary public art exhibitions. These are of the highest quality, comparable to those at the National Gallery, the Tate Gallery and leading art galleries outside the United Kingdom. In 2004 the highlights of the Academy's permanent collection went on display in the newly restored reception rooms of the original section of Burlington House, which are now known as the "John Madejski Fine Rooms".

The Academy also hosts an annual Royal Academy summer exhibition of new art, which is a well known event on the London social calendar. It is not as fashionable as was the case in earlier centuries, and has been largely ignored by the trendy Brit Artists and their patrons; however Tracey Emin exhibited in the 2005 show.

Anyone who wishes may submit pictures for inclusion and those which are selected are displayed alongside the works of the Academicians. Most of the works are available for purchase.

The Academy also runs a postgraduate art school and a research library.

Location

Until 1771, the Academy was based in Pall Mall. Shortly afterwards, it was able to move into premises at the new Somerset House, a government building which had been designed by Sir William Chambers, and was intended to provide accommodation for a number of learned societies. In 1837, the Academy moved to the recently constructed National Gallery in Trafalgar Square and then, in 1868, to its present home at Burlington House in Piccadilly. Major extensions were made to the building to designs by Charles Barry (junior), architect son of Sir Charles Barry.

Membership

Full membership of the academy is limited to 80 Academicians or "RAs", who may be painters, printmakers, sculptors, or architects, and must be "professionally active in Britain".

The Academy's rules are that there must always be at least 14 sculptors, 12 architects, and eight printmakers; the balance being made up of painters. New Academicians are elected by the existing RAs.

Apart from kudos of being elected, full members of the Academy may expect to serve for a time on the governing council of the Academy, and to take part in various committees. Each room in the Summer Exhibition is generally hung by a different R.A.

A larger number of Associates of the Royal Academy (designated "A.R.A.") are also elected, but being an A.R.A. is not a prerequisite to full membership.

Members of the public can also join the Royal Academy as "Friends" by making a financial donation; outside of public exhibitions, this is one of the RA's main sources of income.

Academicians ("RAs") by year of election

(incomplete list)

Presidents

See also

The Arts Club

External links


Museums and Galleries in London

British Museum | Dulwich Picture Gallery | Geffrye Museum | Hayward Gallery | Horniman Museum | Imperial War Museum | Museum of London | Museum of Performance | National Gallery | National Maritime Museum | National Portrait Gallery | Natural History Museum | Royal Academy of Arts | Science Museum | Sir John Soane's Museum | Somerset House – Courtauld Gallery, Gilbert Collection, Hermitage Rooms | Tate Britain | Tate Modern | Victoria and Albert Museum | V&A Museum of Childhood | Wallace Collection

See here for full list

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