The Garden
250 Years of the RA Schools
6 July - 18 September 2019
Weston Studio, RA Schools
Sunday – Thursday 10am-6pm
Fridays 10am-10pm
Free, no booking required.
Friends of the RA go free
We’re marking 250 years of the the RA Schools by showcasing work by illustrious graduates, including JMW Turner and Sandra Blow, alongside work by recent graduates whose art finds unusual and remarkable parallels.
Celebrating the 250th anniversary of the RA Schools, this show takes its name from a statement by former President of the Royal Academy of Arts, Sir Martin Archer Shee. Referring to the Royal Academy as a place run by artists and being home to an art school, he described the RA as “a garden, not a granary”.
Building on that idea, The Garden presents contemporary artworks by RA Schools graduates, alongside historic works from the RA Collection. Six recent graduates of the RA Schools whose work is held in the Collection have chosen works from the Collection by former RA students and Royal Academicians, finding surprising and unexpected connections between their own work and the history of the Royal Academy.
Featured artists: Julie Born Schwartz, Gabriella Boyd, Gina Fischli, Kira Freije, Ziggy Grudzinskas, and John Robertson