Introduction: Edward Summerton RSA

  • The RSA Annual Exhibition, now in its 198th year, is the largest and longest running exhibition of contemporary art and...

    Edward Summerton RSA, Let's Swap Children

    The RSA Annual Exhibition, now in its 198th year, is the largest and longest running exhibition of contemporary art and architecture in Scotland.

     

    The exhibition celebrates the diversity of a yearlong programme in our iconic building on Princes Street, Edinburgh. Over half a million visitors attended 18 RSA exhibitions during the past year alone, with 65,000 visiting last year’s Annual Exhibition.

     

    The RSA Annual celebrates not only the breadth of work by our Academicians and Honorary Academicians along with works selected from submissions received throughout the UK and Europe, but also includes work by artists and architects invited by this year’s convenors Wendy McMurdo RSA and Jude Barber RSA (Elect). The exhibition encompasses a selection of physical works presented within the galleries along with artworks presented exclusively digitally, giving international audiences the opportunity to engage with the show.

  • Spread throughout the exhibition will be memorial presentations to our Academicians sadly lost over the past year, all of whom...

    Delia Baillie RSA, Faced Array

    Spread throughout the exhibition will be memorial presentations to our Academicians sadly lost over the past year, all of whom volunteered so much of their time and energy to assist the Academy. We thank them and will miss them all: Delia Baillie RSA, Dennis Buchan RSA, Peter Collins RSA and John Byrne RSA. Academician Andrew Merrylees RSA passed away this January and a memorial presentation in next year’s Annual will celebrate his legacy. We sadly lost two of our Honorary Academicians this year and acknowledge our gratitude for their contribution to the Academy both in Scotland and Europe: the Very Rev. Gilleasbuig I. Macmillan HRSA and Kenneth White HRSA.

  • The RSA Annual Exhibition heralds another exciting year of invaluable support by the Academy through our programme of exhibitions, residencies,...

    John Brown, Builders 5 (Horse)

    The RSA Annual Exhibition heralds another exciting year of invaluable support by the Academy through our programme of exhibitions, residencies, scholarships and awards, with over £350,000 distributed directly to artists and architects from school age to late career practitioners. Our Annual Exhibition alone offers more than 20 awards, including historic prizes and more recent partnerships with sponsors.

     

    Our year-round programme of awards and artist opportunities has continued to disburse much-needed funds to artists throughout Scotland. Our new RSA MacRobert Art Award and RSA Blackadder Houston Painting and Travel Awards, initiated in 2023, offer valuable periods of research and development for mid-career artists. This year we have also elected two new Members to the Academy: artist Bronwen Sleigh RSA (Elect) and architect Christopher Platt RSA (Elect). We look forward to working with these new Academicians to further the Academy’s aims.

  • The Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture is a fully independent charity. We self-finance our activities and aims to...
    Aleksandra Zawada, Flute Player

    The Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture is a fully independent charity. We self-finance our activities and aims to support Scottish contemporary art and architecture. We achieve these aims through partnerships with museums, galleries and the studio workshops sector. These partners help us to assist artists make and exhibit new works. We aim to inspire, nurture and support children, students, graduate and working artists of all ages and at all career stages.

     

    We encourage researchers, curators and academics to investigate, talk about and publish on our historic and contemporary collections - collections which are Recognised as being of National Significance by the Scottish Government. We warmly welcome and encourage collectors and supporters whose gifts of art and funds will, through their legacies, assist artists’ careers into the future. Hopefully one day, returning to the RSA Annual to present their exciting new work.

     

    Edward Summerton RSA, Secretary

     

    Purchase the exhibition catalogue