News - 251st Summer Exhibition

Acclaimed British painter, Jock McFadyen RA will be the co-ordinator of the 251st Summer Exhibition, on at the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 10th June to 12th August... 

Press Release

McFadyen, alongside the Summer Exhibition Committee intends to build on the exhibition’s success, recognising that it continues to provide a unique platform for artists at all stages of their career to present recent work.

Highlights within the Main Galleries will include a ‘menagerie’ in the Central Hall curated by Jock McFadyen RA, with works by artists including Polly Morgan, Charles Avery and Mat Collishaw. Jane and Louise Wilson RA will organise two gallery spaces, one of which will showcase light and time based work. Spencer de Grey RA will curate the Architecture Gallery, which will explore the theme of sustainability.

The celebrated artist Thomas Houseago will show a group of large-scale sculptural works in the Royal Academy’s Annenberg Courtyard that respond to the Academy’s statue of Joshua Reynolds, which has stood in the courtyard since 1931. This will be the first time that the courtyard will be dedicated to an artist that is not a Royal Academician as part of the Summer Exhibition.

Further artists exhibiting in this year’s Summer Exhibition include Jeremy Deller and Marcus Harvey alongside Royal Academicians such as Tracey Emin RA, Gary Hume RA, David Nash RA, Wolfgang Tillmans RA and Honorary Royal Academicians, Anselm Kiefer and James Turrell. The celebrated German filmmaker and photographer Wim Wenders Hon RA will be taking over the free McAulay Galleries, with a series of panoramic photographs.

The Summer Exhibition is the world’s largest open submission contemporary art show which has taken place every year without interruption since 1769. The members of the Summer Exhibition Committee serve in rotation, ensuring that every year the exhibition has a distinctive character, with each Royal Academician responsible for a particular gallery space. Works from all over the world are judged democratically on merit and the final selection is made during the eight-day hang in the galleries.

This year the Royal Academy received over 16,000 entries. Around 1200 works, in a range of media, will go on display, the majority of which will be for sale offering visitors an opportunity to purchase original work. A significant part of funds raised continue to contribute to financing the postgraduate students at the RA Schools.

Find out more and book tickets - https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/summer-exhibition-2019


Images -

Jock McFadyen RA
Falaise
digital print, 44 x 76 cm
Photo: Lucid Plane


Tony Bevan RA
TREE (PP1845)
Acrylic and charcoal on paper, 85 x 121 cm
Courtesy of the artist

Barbara Rae
Ilulissat
Mixed media on canvas, 183 x 183 cm
Photo: Jed Gordon