InfoBritain

 

Royal Academy Of Arts

Inspite of attempts to showcase young British artists, the Royal Academy is the establishment as far as some of the art world is concerned. There was some shock when Tracey Emin was made a member of the Academy in 2005. Advances in art have the habit of coming out of disreputable areas, a point made, ironically, by the first president of the Academy, Sir Joshua Reynolds, to his students. Reynolds dedicated his Christmas lecture of 1788 to Thomas Gainsborough who died that year. In this lecture, which must have been a moving one for the students, Reynolds made clear his almost guilty love for the work of the populist Gainsborough: "I lay myself open to the censure and ridicule of the academical professors of other nations, in preferring the humble attempts of Gainsborough to the works of those regular graduates in the great historical style. But we have the sanction of all mankind in preferring genius in a lower rank of art, to feebleness and insipidity in the highest. " (Sir Joshua Reynolds Discourses on Art Quoted in Gainsborough by John Hayes P11)

The Royal Academy of Arts was created in 1769, the result of a grudge held by Joseph Palmer, defeated in a disputed contest for the leadership of the Society of Artists. An art school was created, the Royal Academy Schools, which gave tuition to John Constable and to Joseph Turner. In these early days the Academy was housed at Someset House.moving to its present home in Burlington House in 1867. The Academy provided lectures and catalogues on the art of the day, and has held a Summer Exhibition open to all every year since its opening. Pictures were packed in frame against frame, and in Georgian England the Exhibition was a major social event. With this history in mind the Academy has more of a populist past then might be imagined looking at its venerable facade. Art has a long history of breaking down divisions between what is considered important or unimportant, and upsets in art's unpredictable course have often involved the Academy. John Constable who said that his art could be "found under every hedge and in every lane" was not made an Academician until he was 53, since his closely observed painting of landscapes in Suffolk were not fashionable at the time. More recently the Academy in a hilarious episode has illustrated how difficult it is to define what we now see as art. In 2006 a support for a new sculpture was placed in one of the galleries. The Academy thought the support was the sculpture itself. When they discovered their mistake it was decided to keep the support, now promoted to status of sculpture, on display.

The Academy organises regular exhibtions of art around themes or particular artists. It is the entrance fees paid for these exhibitions that allows the Academy to be self sustaining. Art in Britain has a history of this kind of independence, as opposed to countries like France or Italy where the government sponsored artistic institutions. This gave a particular nature to British art as "created and democratically directed by the artists in response to growing market demands; it was open to all artists with no discrimination of nationality, religion or professional expertise." (Oxford History Of Art ed Martin Kemp P247)

Opening Times: Opening is 10am - 6pm every day, except Friday when the galleries close at 10pm. Entry is by paid ticket. Free guided tours take place at 1pm Tuesday to Friday, with an additional tour at 3pm on Wednesdays. On Saturday the tour is at 11.30am. Note that holdalls, suitcases and large backpacks are not permitted, and cannot be stored in the cloackroom.

Directions: The RA is at Burlington House just off Piccadilly. The nearest underground station is Piccadilly. Click here for an interactive road and satellite map centred on the Royal Academy of Arts.

Access: Ring ahead to book wheelchairs and disabled parking.

Contact:

telephone: 020 7300 8000

web site: http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/