Press
Welcome to the RA Press Office
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Contact us
Email press.office@royalacademy.org.uk or call +44 20 7300 5615.
Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Press team is working remotely. During this time, please email us and a member of the team will respond to your enquiry. The RA Press Office hours are 9.30am – 5.30pm Monday to Friday.
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Press Information
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![Richard Rogers Press View]()
Press images and press releases
Links to exhibition press images can be found in the relevant press release or contact the Press Office.
Please view or download press releases in advance of your visit (see below) or contact the Press Office.
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![Manet curators tour]()
Press access
Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we currently have a reduced capacity for access to the RA with safety measures in place. All visitors, including press, must contact us and have a pre-booked exhibition ticket slot in order to access the RA. Please email Press.office@royalacademy.org.uk.
For information on new press access measures and how to book: Press Access Guidance
We hold dedicated Press Views for every exhibition, please contact the Press Office for information. If you are unable to attend a Press View, please contact the Press Office in advance to request press access to an exhibition. Gallery staff are only able to admit those who have pre-arranged a press pass. Please note, during the final two weeks of an exhibition we are unable to offer press passes.
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![Photography and filming]()
Filming and photography
The Press Office will always try to accommodate filming and photography at the Royal Academy where possible.
To enquire about conducting news filming or photography outside of our Press Views, please contact the Press Office with details of your request. Filming will need to be arranged outside of public opening hours.
If you would like to enquire about using the Royal Academy as a film or commercial photoshoot location (e.g. for a film or TV show), contact the Press Office.
All filming and photography must be arranged with the Press Office in advance.
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News from the RA
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![SE22 install 4x3]()
The Royal Academy of Arts announces the 254th Summer Exhibition Committee with Alison Wilding RA as co-ordinator
Celebrated British sculptor Alison Wilding RA will co-ordinate the 254th Summer Exhibition in 2022. The Summer Exhibition Committee members will be Royal Academicians Rana Begum, Stephen Chambers, David Mach, Farshid Moussavi, Grayson Perry, Cathie Pilkington, Conrad Shawcross and Bill Woodrow. Niall McLaughlin will curate the Architecture Gallery. The committee will be chaired by the President of the Royal Academy, Rebecca Salter.
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![Burlington House Facade 4x3 2]()
The Royal Academy announces election of a new Royal Academician and two new Honorary Royal Academicians
At a recent General Assembly meeting, the Royal Academy of Arts elected Amanda Levete as a Royal Academician in the category of Architecture. In addition, Ellen Gallagher and Pipilotti Rist were elected as Honorary Royal Academicians.
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![Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga, Wetereire – Waiting]()
The Royal Academy announces the Charles Wollaston Award winner 2021
The prestigious £25,000 Charles Wollaston Award has been won by Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga for Wetereire – Waiting in the Royal Academy’s 253rd Summer Exhibition (open until 2 January 2022). Established in 1978 and presented to the ‘most distinguished work’ in the exhibition, it is one of the most significant art prizes awarded in the UK.
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![Hélène Binet, John Hejduk, The Riga Project: Object/Subject, Philadelphia, United States]()
Architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts 2021/22
Find out more about the Royal Academy’s Architecture Programme for 2021/22.
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![William Kentridge, Video still from Notes Towards a Model Opera]()
2022 Exhibitions
Find out more about our upcoming exhibitions.
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Forthcoming and current exhibition press packs
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![Kawanabe Kyōsai, Hell Courtesan (Jigoku-dayū), dancing Ikkyū and skeletons (detail)]()
Kyōsai: The Israel Goldman Collection
The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries
Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831–1889) was the most exciting and popular Japanese painter of the late 19th century. A child prodigy and draughtsman of the highest ability, his art is humorous, provocative, energetic, and outrageous. The exhibition will focus largely on the art of sekiga, ‘spontaneous paintings’, produced at ‘calligraphy and painting parties’ (shogakai) which were often fuelled by prodigious amounts of saké. Overlooked for decades, many of these works reveal a comical twist which plays on conventions or reflects the artist’s take on society.
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![James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl (detail)]()
Whistler’s Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan
The Jillian and Arthur M. Sackler Wing of Galleries
Whistler’s Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan will be the first exhibition to examine the important role played by the Irish-born model Joanna Hiffernan (1839?–1886) in establishing the reputation of the American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) as one of the most influential artists of the late 19th century. Consisting of over 70 works, the exhibition will bring together nearly all of Whistler’s depictions of Hiffernan, and will include paintings, prints, drawings, and related art works and ephemera. Whistler’s Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan will explore the pair’s professional and personal relationship over more than 20 years and examine how the artwork resulting from their collaboration has influenced and resonated with artists into the 20th century.
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![Francis Bacon, Second Version of Triptych 1944 (detail)]()
Francis Bacon: Man and Beast
Main Galleries
In January 2022, the Royal Academy of Arts will present Francis Bacon: Man and Beast, the first exhibition to chart the development of the artist’s work through the lens of his fascination with animals, and how this impacted upon his treatment of his ultimate subject: the human figure. Francis Bacon (1909–1992) is recognised as one of the most important artists of the 20th century. Since his death, the world has changed in ways that make his unnerving work ever more prescient. This important exhibition will include around 45 remarkable paintings spanning his career; from his earliest works of the 1930s and ‘40s through to the final painting he ever made in 1991, which will be exhibited publicly for the first time in the UK. Among the works, a trio of paintings of bullfights, all made in 1969, will also be displayed together for the first time.
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![Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga]()
Summer Exhibition 2021
Main Galleries
The Royal Academy is delighted to present this year’s Summer Exhibition, which has been delayed until the autumn for the second time in its long history due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The 253rd Summer Exhibition will be a unique celebration of contemporary art and architecture, providing a vital platform and support for the artistic community.
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![John Constable RA , Rainstorm over the Sea]()
Late Constable
The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries
In October 2021, the Royal Academy will present the first survey of the late work of John Constable (1776-1837). Late Constable will explore the last twelve years of the artist’s career, from 1825 until his unexpected death in 1837. Characterised by the expressive brushwork that came to define Constable’s late career, the exhibition will bring together over 50 works including paintings and oil sketches as well as watercolours, drawings and prints, taking an in-depth look at the development of the artist’s late style.
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![Hélène Binet, Atelier Peter Zumthor, Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, Wachendorf, Germany (detail)]()
Light Lines: The Architectural Photographs of Hélène Binet
The Jillian and Arthur M. Sackler Wing of Galleries
In October 2021, the Royal Academy of Arts will present Light Lines: The Architectural Photographs of Hélène Binet, an intimate unveiling of architecture through the lens of the renowned Swiss-French photographer Hélène Binet. Over the past 30 years, Binet has travelled the world to photograph works by architects including Le Corbusier, Zaha Hadid RA, Nicholas Hawksmoor, Daniel Libeskind, Jørn Utzon and Peter Zumthor Hon RA. The exhibition will span Binet’s career, showcasing around 90 images of more than 20 projects by 12 architects.
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