Image: Laura Arenson, ‘Hatred Never Wins In The End. Susan Pollack, OBE. Survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau’
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters’
Annual Exhibition in May
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ Annual Exhibition from May 9-18, now celebrating its 133rd year, will take place at the prestigious Mall Galleries on London’s The Mall, home to the Federation of British Artists, a visual arts charity supporting artists since 1961.
The exhibition is unique in that its collection of painted and drawn portraits, from a national and international submission, is selected not by the art establishment, by celebrities or media moguls, but by world-renowned, professional portrait painters.
With peer-reviewed paintings chosen through the discerning eye and instinctive sensitivity of other artists, the exhibition arguably showcases the very best painted portraits in Europe – both by established portraiture artists and by the most exciting up-and-coming talent. It is one of the world’s greatest forums for portraiture featuring a broad collection of stylistic and intellectual approaches.
The Society presents the following prizes and awards annually:
- The William Lock Portrait Prize – one artist will win £20,000 for the most timeless portrait with a real feeling for paint and its aesthetic potential
- The Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture
- The de Laszlo Foundation Award
- The RP Prize for the Best Small Portrait
- The Raw Umber Studios Prize
- The Smallwood Architects Prize for Contextual Portraiture
-Main award winners announced on May 16.