RA Magazine
Revealing art and artists
One of Britain’s best-read art magazines.
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Published four times a year for Friends of the Royal Academy, the beautifully designed RA Magazine explores in depth the art on view both inside and outside the RA each season.
Including insightful essays, interviews with artists, thought-provoking opinion pieces, comprehensive listings, and previews of shows across the UK and abroad, RA Magazine brings the Royal Academy and the wider art world into your home.
Some of the magazine’s interviews and reviews are published on our website. Read articles from RA Magazine.
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Read the latest from RA Magazine
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![, Armitage's studio set in the lush grounds of his Nairobi home]()
Artists
16 days ago
In the studio with Michael Armitage
Tristan McConnell reports from the Nairobi studio of RA Schools alumnus, Michael Armitage, whose solo exhibition at the Royal Academy is due to open May 2021.
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![David Hockney , No. 147 (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
27 days ago
David Hockney: to Normandy via Yorkshire
Edith Devaney, curator of our upcoming David Hockney exhibition, explores how the artist harnessed springtime to explore the drama of nature, the process of grief – and the power of hope.
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![Diana Armfield, Last Nasturtium of the Season]()
Artists
2 months ago
“Like a portrait painter with their sitters, I have the feeling of a real relationship with the flowers I paint”
100-year-old artist Diana Armfield RA writes about the joy of painting the flowers in her garden.
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![Imogen Cunningham , Ruth Asawa, Sculptor, at her Door]()
RA Recommends
2 months ago
Ruth Asawa: the pioneering American sculptor you need to know
This International Women’s Day, we celebrate an artist once dismissed as a “San Francisco Housewife” who refused to see parenthood as an obstacle.
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![Timothy Spall as JMW Turner in a still from 'Mr. Turner']()
RA Recommends
3 months ago
10 artist movies and docs to watch on Netflix, Amazon Prime and more
When you can’t go to the art, let the art come to you. Here’s our pick of the best artist biopics and documentaries available to stream in January.
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![John Akomfrah RA]()
Artists
4 months ago
John Akomfrah RA on his artistic roots, upcoming London show, and being left-handed
Newly elected Royal Academician, John Akomfrah, has been exploring Black British life since the ‘80s. He tells us about being slammed in the press by Salman Rushdie and his love of Virginia Woolf.
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![Portrait of Joy Labinjo]()
Artists
4 months ago
In the studio with Joy Labinjo
Joy Labinjo is quietly changing the course of art history from a small studio in south London. Writer Fiona Maddocks meets Labinjo to discuss her ambitious paintings, and the next steps in her career.
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![Francis Bacon, Second Version of Triptych 1944]()
RA Exhibitions
4 months ago
Appetite and decay: the animal instincts in Bacon’s paintings
Author Colm Tóibín traces the conflation of the animal and human condition in 20th-century art and literature.
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![Jennifer Packer, Say Her Name]()
RA Recommends
5 months ago
Jennifer Packer’s intimate portraits of Black lives
As the first major European show of Packer’s work opens, Aruna D’Souza celebrates the painter’s powerful repurposing of art historical tradition.
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![Edvard Munch, Crouching Nude (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
5 months ago
Tracey Emin’s lifelong affinity with Edvard Munch
As the Royal Academy brings Tracey Emin and Edvard Munch’s work together, Jennifer Higgie, host of ‘Bow Down: Women in Art History’ podcast, asks Emin what makes them kindred spirits.
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![Sunil Gupta, Jama Masjid]()
RA Recommends
6 months ago
How Sunil Gupta captured the hidden experience of gay men in Delhi
As a retrospective of the photographer opens in London, Theo Gordon focuses on a pivotal series that commented on gay experience in 1980s Delhi.
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RA Exhibitions
7 months ago
3 young artists on getting into the Young Artists’ Summer Show
Imogen West-Knights catches up with three young creatives as they prepare to exhibit in this year’s Young Artists’ Summer Show.
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![Elias Allan, Astronomical Compendium]()
Opinion
9 months ago
Lockdown and luxury: the court of James I
Although his accession to the English throne was marred by plague, the Scottish Stuart brought with him vibrant art and culture, says Clare Jackson.
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![Olu Ogunnaike (right) with print tutor Leigh Clarke in the RA Schools print studio]()
Inside the Academy
9 months ago
It takes two: collaboration in the RA Schools
No artist is an island, as Charlotte Jansen found when she met students and their mentors at the RA’s art school.
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![Paul Cézanne, L'Estaque]()
RA Exhibitions
9 months ago
Cézanne and his love affair with the rocks of Provence
Curator Ann Dumas digs into how Paul Cézanne’s Provençal landscapes broke new ground with their blend of art and geology.
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![Hampstead Map, Mike Lemanski]()
Opinion
10 months ago
In the footsteps of Hampstead’s modernists
Hampstead in the 1930s was populated with modernist artists and architects. As Caroline Maclean gives a tour of the area, look out for the reference numbers on our illustrated map below.
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![Angelica Kauffman, Self-portrait of the Artist hesitating between the Arts of Music and Painting]()
RA Exhibitions
10 months ago
The meteoric rise of Angelica Kauffman RA
Historian Jenny Uglow tells the story of how Angelica Kauffman became a founding Member of the RA and one of the most revered artists in Georgian Britain.
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![Charles Jones, Broccoli Leamington]()
Opinion
10 months ago
Charles Jones and his vegetable portraiture
A chance find in a market unearthed a bumper crop of early photographs by Charles Jones that are now art-historical treasures. Felix Bazalgette samples the artist-gardener’s rich pickings.
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![Rana Begum RA at her home and studio in London’s Stoke Newington]()
Artists
11 months ago
Rana Begum: “My work is a release, allowing me to feel calm.”
Rana Begum RA discusses moving studios during a pandemic, its impact on her creative process and how having the children at home has introduced some new qualities into her work.
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![Jacopo di Cione and workshop, Adoring Saints: Left Main Tier Panel, The Coronation of the Virgin: Central Main Tier Panel and Adoring Saints: Right Main Tier Panel]()
Artists
11 months ago
Author Tessa Hadley on how we carry art around in our mind
While in lockdown Tessa Hadley pays a visit to her inner National Gallery, contemplating recollections of one of her favourite Renaissance altarpieces, Jacopo Di Cioni’s ‘Coronation of the Virgin’.
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![Norman Blamey RA, Spring and the Student]()
RA Recommends
11 months ago
10 novels about art you won’t put down
Every artwork tells a story. Make a cup of tea, take a seat and settle into the ten best novels inspired by art and artists, picked by us.
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![Talk Art podcast]()
RA Recommends
12 months ago
9 art podcasts to keep you inspired during lockdown
Plug in your headphones, sit back and relax with one of these podcasts, transporting you into the art world from the comfort of your front room.
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![Tom Hammick, Night and Day]()
Artists
12 months ago
Woodwork: how does it work?
The centuries-old techniques of woodcut and wood engraving are alive and well today, holding an enduring appeal for contemporary artists. But what are these processes and what is the difference? Fiona Maddocks investigates.
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![Installation view of the RA’s ‘Exhibition of Italian Art 1200-1900’ in 1930]()
RA Exhibitions
12 months ago
Mussolini and the Royal Academy: a 90-year-old controversy
In 1930, the greatest works of the Italian Renaissance drew half a million visitors to the Academy. But there was a darker, political undercurrent to this blockbuster show, explains Katherine Jane Alexander…
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![Edward Hopper, Nighthawks]()
RA Recommends
1 year ago
9 virtual exhibition tours to watch online
Galleries and museums might be closed but you can still see major exhibitions from around the world, while swapping the crowds for a cuppa. We pick some of the best virtual tours and artworks currently available online.
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![Arthur Rothstein, Sewing a quilt. Gees Bend, Alabama. Jennie Pettway and another girl with the quilter Jorena Pettway]()
Opinion
1 year ago
Quilting from the Deep South: a lesson in creativity your way
Rooted in folk traditions, quilts from the Alabama hamlet of Gee’s Bend have long been prized by museums in the States. Now, their unbounded creativity has arrived in the UK.
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![Titian, Danaë]()
RA Recommends
1 year ago
10 art exhibitions to see in March
From Titian to photos of Thatcher-era Gateshead, here’s our pick of the exhibitions across the UK we think you should see in March. And don’t you dare say you’re too busy.
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![, Wilhelm Hansen in the Corot room at Ordrupgaard]()
RA Exhibitions
1 year ago
The visionary collector behind the Ordrupgaard Collection
Not every collector’s story ends happily. Novelist Sarah Dunant charts the bumpy tale behind Wilhelm Hansen’s treasured collection of Impressionist paintings, which go on display at the RA this spring.
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![Gustave Courbet, The Cliffs near Étretat (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
1 year ago
Four artists on their favourite Impressionist paintings in the Ordrupgaard Collection
The Impressionists are renowned for their enduring scenes of people and places, whether energetic seascapes or portraits of young women. Four artists – Hughie O‘Donoghue RA, Maggi Hambling, Ishbel Myerscough and Mali Morris RA – describe works that resonate with them in our upcoming exhibition ‘Gauguin and the Impressionists’.
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![Cassi Namoda, Little is Enough for Those with Love/Mimi Nakupenda]()
RA Recommends
1 year ago
10 art exhibitions to see in February
From Linder’s radical feminist collages and Grayson Perry’s early pots, to the Barbican’s blockbuster survey of masculinity, here are 10 exhibitions you won’t want to miss.
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![An architectural rendering of of the Grand Egyptian Museum, by Heneghan Peng Architects]()
RA Recommends
> 1 year ago
10 exhibitions worth travelling to in 2020
From the largest-ever assemblage of works by Jan van Eyck, to the unveiling of the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum, 2020 promises to bring into focus some of the finest achievements in cultural history.
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![Anselm Kiefer Hon RA, Der Gordische Knoten]()
RA Recommends
> 1 year ago
10 art exhibitions to see in December
Come in from the cold this December with our recommended picks of exhibitions to see across the UK.
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![Joy Labinjo, Untitled]()
RA Recommends
> 1 year ago
10 art exhibitions to see in November
From David Bomberg’s fascination with the Old Masters to Kiki Smith’s first solo show in the UK, here are 10 exhibitions not to miss this November.
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![William Hogarth, The Humours of an Election, II: Canvassing for Votes]()
Artists
> 1 year ago
Reflecting on Hogarth’s political prints from Brexit Britain
William Hogarth revelled in the vanity and corruption of London’s rakes and harlots. But his Comic History paintings also draw sobering parallels with Britain’s political climate today, writes Simon Wilson.
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![, Antony Gormley in his London studio]()
RA Exhibitions
> 1 year ago
Behind the scenes of our Antony Gormley exhibition
Six tonnes of steel mesh, eight kilometres of coiled tubing, a gallery flooded with sea water and a body that can be walked through: this autumn Antony Gormley RA transforms the Academy’s Main Galleries into a sequence of experiences that challenge the viewer. The show’s co-curator takes us behind the scenes.
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![Lucian Freud, Reflection with Two Children (Self-portrait) (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
> 1 year ago
Lucian Freud in five self-portraits
From the focused, linear depictions in his early works, to the triumphant naked portrait painted at the top of his game, Lucian Freud’s self-portraits are a testament to the artist’s indefatigable journey. Friend and art critic Martin Gayford selects five works from our forthcoming exhibition ‘Lucian Freud: The Self-portraits’.
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![Otobong Nkanga, The Weight of Scars]()
RA Recommends
> 1 year ago
10 art exhibitions to see in September
From Matisse’s masterful use of line, to an exhibition showing the overwhelming obsession with colour in the 20th century, here are 10 exhibitions to see this month.
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![Bridget Riley, High Sky]()
RA Recommends
< 2 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in July
From Bridget Riley and the dazzling canvases of the Op-Art movement, to the culinary artefacts of the ancient world, here 10 shows across the UK that we recommend this month.
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![Michael Craig-Martin for Opinion piece]()
Opinion
< 2 years ago
“Schools are failing our children. The solution lies in art education.”
As art-making is ebbed out of schools across the country, we overlook the skills it delivers – strengths that should be the envy of “proper” academic education, says Michael Craig-Martin.
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![Installation view of the Summer Exhibition 2019 (10 June – 12 August), with 2019 coordinator Jock McFayden RA]()
RA Exhibitions
< 2 years ago
Exploring this year’s Summer Exhibition with coordinator Jock McFadyen RA
Feeling overwhelmed by all the art to see in this year’s Summer Exhibition? Here’s some guidance from poet and art critic Kelly Grovier, who met with the show’s coordinator to discuss its themes before selecting his own standout works to see.
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![Helene Schjerfbeck, Self-portrait, a Study (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
< 2 years ago
Artist Ian McKeever RA on the raw power of Helene Schjerfbeck’s self-portraits
As we introduce the Finnish artist Helene Schjerfbeck to British audiences, painter Ian McKeever RA reflects on her searing self-portraits; works that changed the way he viewed both art and himself.
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![Isaac Julien RA, A Marvellous Entanglement]()
RA Recommends
< 2 years ago
Isaac Julien on his ode to brutalist architect, Bo Bardi
The master of multi-screens is back with a new work exploring the life of Brazilian brutalist architect Bo Bardi, whose socially conscious buildings and writings come to life through Julien’s lens. Here’s what you need to know.
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![James Hunkin, Frank Bowling R.A., 2005]()
Artists
< 2 years ago
Frank Bowling: the artist who put abstraction on the map
The British-Guyanese artist spent decades in New York at the forefront of experimental abstract painting. Now, at age 85, he’s finally celebrated in a retrospective show at Tate Britain. We trace how he got there.
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![V&A collection and research centre]()
RA Recommends
< 2 years ago
Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio: “The city is a public resource”
This year’s RA Architecture Prize winners, Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, are responsible for New York’s High Line, MoMA, Lincoln Center and The Broad – among many buildings. With two projects in London on the way, the American duo met Edwin Heathcote to talk punk, surveillance, disagreements and resistance.
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![Kathy Brew, Portraits of Kathy Acker, San Francisco]()
RA Recommends
< 2 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in May
From abstract art by pioneering women artists to explorations of the natural world, here are 10 exhibitions to catch this May.
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![Paul Simon Richards, Quasi-Monte Carlo (still)]()
RA Recommends
2 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in April
From the prints of Edvard Munch at the British Museum to Ruskin and Turner at York Art Gallery, here are 10 exhibitions not to miss this April.
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![Venus Rising from the Sea (‘Venus Anadyomene’), c. 1520, by Titian, at ‘The Renaissance Nude’]()
RA Exhibitions
2 years ago
Why nudes are allowed in galleries but not on Facebook
In a world where social media screens for nudity, it’s remarkable that one of the few places we can look freely at the naked body in public is the art gallery, says Jill Burke from the University of Edinburgh, as ‘The Renaissance Nude’ opens at the RA.
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![View of the exhibition, Phyllida Barlow RA cul-de-sac]()
RA Exhibitions
2 years ago
Four things to know about Phyllida Barlow’s sculpture
As the Academician’s site-specific show opens at the RA, Jon Wood explains what we gain from the pleasures and perplexities of her works.
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![Bill Viola, Fire Angel]()
RA Exhibitions
2 years ago
What would Michelangelo make of Bill Viola?
With the work of contemporary artist Bill Viola on show alongside works by Michelangelo, the exhibition’s co-curator imagines what the Renaissance master might have had to say about it, in a fictional letter to his nephew…
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![Alan Davie RA, Romance for Moon and Stars]()
RA Recommends
2 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in March
Planning a fresh start for Spring? Check out this month’s pick of exhibitions across the UK – the idea of firsts is a recurring theme.
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![Illustration by Yukai Du]()
Opinion
2 years ago
Debate: can you teach art?
Eliza Bonham Carter, Curator and Head of the RA Schools, and RA Schools student Ewan Macfarlane share their thoughts. Cast your vote below.
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![Nicholas Hilliard, Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland (detail)]()
RA Recommends
2 years ago
Ruskin and Hilliard had faith in education
This spring, new exhibitions and books explore the two artists’ belief in the educational and humanising power of art.
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![, Charlotte Mullins tests tablet apps with her children]()
RA Recommends
2 years ago
Four art-making apps for kids
Smartphones and tablets are becoming canvases for creativity, thanks to new apps. Charlotte Mullins tries some out with her family.
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![Pocketpark. On the building blocks of a truly lovable and liveable city.]()
Opinion
> 2 years ago
What are the building blocks of a liveable (and loveable) city?
As part of RA Architecture Studio’s Invisible Landscapes series, urbanist Rachel Fisher weighs up the myriad ways that social technology can help us build human-centred cities.
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![Taking a moment to appreciate Hercules, one of the traditional teaching casts, in The Julia and Hans Rausing Hall]()
Inside the Academy
> 2 years ago
From dawn to dusk at the New RA
With new spaces to encounter art – and places to eat or drink in between – you can easily spend a whole day at the Academy. RA Magazine sent its new deputy editor Sarah Handelman to discover how to do it well
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![Bill Viola, Nantes Triptych]()
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
Bill Viola / Michelangelo: scenes from the extremities of life
We asked four writers to respond to key themes in ‘Bill Viola / Michelangelo’. On the subject of birth, art historian Ingrid Rowland reveals how both artists confront the particular and the universal in the cycle of life.
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![Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Risen Christ (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
Bill Viola / Michelangelo: finding the language of emotion
We asked four writers to respond to key themes in ‘Bill Viola / Michelangelo’. On the subject of emotional states, novelist Deborah Levy asks what it means to surrender to our most intense and incoherent feelings.
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![Bill Viola, Man Searching for Immortality/Woman Searching for Eternity]()
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
Bill Viola / Michelangelo: art as a search for meaning
We asked four writers to respond to key themes in ‘Bill Viola / Michelangelo’. On the subject of mortality, the former bishop Richard Holloway writes that art and religion are driven onwards by the fact of our death.
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![Michelangelo Buonarroti, Archers Shooting at a Herm (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
Bill Viola / Michelangelo: expressing the inexpressible
We asked four writers to respond to key themes in ‘Bill Viola / Michelangelo’. On the subject of transcendence, poet and novelist Ben Okri argues that art’s power lies where understanding leaves off, beyond thought and word.
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![Athi-Patra Ruga, Night of the Long Knives I]()
RA Recommends
> 2 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in December
‘Tis the season to be creative and cultured! From deep neural networks to bronze-cast peanut butter on toast, these are our selections of what to see over the festive period…
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![Egon Schiele, Seated Female Nude (detail)]()
Opinion
> 2 years ago
Being a sitter for Egon Schiele
With their direct eye contact and powerful stances, Egon Schiele’s drawings of women were some of the first to recognise female autonomy. But who were the artist’s models and how did their relationships with Schiele play out on paper?
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![Phyllida Barlow RA and Harrison Birtwistle]()
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
“Do you destroy your work? I do” – Phyllida Barlow and Harrison Birtwistle discuss creativity
As Phyllida Barlow prepares to open a new show of work at the RA, she joins composer Harrison Birtwistle, and journalist Fiona Maddocks, to exchange ideas about creativity – from how ideas arise to when you know they’re finished, and the trauma of titling.
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![Alice Mann, Drummies (series of 4), Cape Town, South Africa]()
RA Recommends
> 2 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in November
This month see art that spans a millennium. From the 11th-century Domesday Book, to Japanese surimono prints and empty swimming pools, here are 10 exhibitions to check out this November.
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![Sarah Pickstone, The Rainbow]()
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
My art agenda: Sarah Pickstone
Sarah Pickstone, alumna of the RA Schools, discusses the inspiration behind her new works in Burlington House, her co-operative studio and the democratic nature of drawing.
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![Edward Burne-Jones, Love Among the Ruins]()
RA Recommends
> 2 years ago
The world of Edward Burne-Jones
With a major retrospective now open at Tate Britain, Martin Oldham reflects on the importance and relevance of Edward Burne-Jones paintings.
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![Cornelia Parker's 'Transitional Object (PsychoBarn)' in the RA courtyard, 2018]()
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
A quick interpretation of Cornelia Parker’s PsychoBarn
With Cornelia Parker’s Hitchcock-inspired barn in the Royal Academy’s courtyard, Sam Jacob takes a look at the psychological, architectural and social layers of this imposing installation.
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![John Constable RA, Hampstead]()
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
The beauty of watercolour
The heyday of British watercolour is reflected at the RA in a free exhibition of works from the BNY Mellon Collection, says Ian Warrell.
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![Egon Schiele, Group of Three Girls (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
Klimt, Schiele and the meaning of art
As the drawings of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele go on show at the Royal Academy, Jill Lloyd reveals how these two giants of 20th-century Viennese modernism fuelled one another’s innovations on paper to push the boundaries of art and depict the human figure as never before.
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![Open Eye Gallery – Biennial 2018 – George Osodi]()
RA Recommends
> 2 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in October
The long days of summer are over, but there is no shortage of art to see. From the first UK exhibitions dedicated to pioneering textile artist Anni Albers and Spanish Old Master Jusepe de Ribera, to witches’ ladders and Frieze Masters, here are 10 exhibitions not to miss this month.
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![, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1971–77]()
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
Renzo Piano: “my buildings are explorations”
He gave us the Shard in London, and in Paris the Centre Pompidou. On the eve of his first exhibition in the capital for 30 years, Renzo Piano meets Jonathan Glancey and reflects on a life of making buildings.
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![The late Gillian Ayres RA, 718 - MARITSA]()
Artists
> 2 years ago
Gillian Ayres RA: colour dancing across the canvas
Mali Morris RA pays tribute to the inspirational life and work of the painter and printmaker Gillian Ayres RA, who passed away earlier this year.
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![William Kentridge, in collaboration with Philip Miller, Catherine Meyburgh and Peter Gibson, The Refusal of Time]()
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in September
From iconic graphic designs to objects of resistance and Impressionist depictions of everyday life, here’s our pick of exhibitions to see this month.
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![Attributed To Patoromu Tamatea, Whakapakoko ("Madonna and Child")]()
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
A journey through the art of Oceania
As the RA mounts its groundbreaking exhibition on the art of the peoples of the Pacific Islands, Maia Jessop Nuku introduces its themes of voyaging, encountering and place-making.
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![, Necklace]()
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
The art of Oceania: seven stories
Curators and scholars give us a glimpse of the remarkable diversity, ancient and modern, that marks out Oceania on the world’s art map.
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![Zhang Enli, The Box]()
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
Watch as he works: Zhang Enli hits London
Renowned Chinese artist Zhang Enli will make a site-specific installation in the RA’s Life Room, in an open studio setting where the public can watch him work.
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![Samara Scott, Belt and Road Installation detail, Tramway]()
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in August
From a translucent sculpture offering a portrait of a city, to an exploration of humans and the cosmos, here’s our top 10 art exhibitions to help you escape the August heat.
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![Christopher Le Brun, Voice]()
RA Recommends
< 3 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in July
From a pairing of master printmakers Goya and Hogarth, to a comprehensive survey of the painter Yves Klein, here’s our pick of 10 new art exhibitions to check out this July.
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![Tacita Dean in her studio, Los Angeles, 2018]()
RA Exhibitions
3 years ago
Tacita Dean: “I don’t care about the long run. I care about now.”
With three landmark exhibitions in London this year – including the inaugural show of the RA’s new galleries – the artist discusses mysteries of the cosmos, classical mythology and chance encounters at her LA studio.
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![Linder, Your Actions Are My Dreams]()
RA Recommends
3 years ago
The punk feminist icon who found her magic in Cornwall
The artist Linder Sterling went from designing notorious artwork for the Buzzcocks to conjuring mytho-poetic forces on a beach in St Ives. With a new show at Nottingham Contemporary, we explore the pioneering punk’s two very different defining moments.
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![Anthony van Dyck, Henrietta Maria with Sir Jeffrey Hudson (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
3 years ago
Henrietta Maria: the queen behind Charles I’s collection
Charles I might have had a keen eye for art, but his queen’s eye was sharper and far more sophisticated. With the couple’s extraordinary art collection currently on display at the RA, the consort’s biographer Erin Griffey explores her life, style and legacy.
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![Mayo, Coups de Bâtons]()
RA Recommends
> 3 years ago
Think you know Surrealism? Meet Egypt’s radical dreamers
Salvador Dalí may have made Surrealism famous, but an overlooked group of artists, writers and activists in 1940s Cairo made the movement their own. Here we look at their pioneering work, currently on show at Tate Liverpool.
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![Gluck, Medallion (YouWe)]()
RA Recommends
> 3 years ago
“Now it is out”: the 1930s painting that declared lesbian love
In 1936 British artist Gluck painted herself and her lover in a radical depiction of same-sex partnership. With a show at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery exploring her life and work, we look at the story behind the painting.
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![Kehinde Wiley, The Herring Net (Zakary Antoine and Samedy Pierre Louisson) (detail)]()
RA Recommends
> 3 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in December
‘Tis the season to be jolly, and what could be jollier than this: ten exhibitions to help you escape the shopping crowds, shelter from the cold a while and wrap yourself up in art and ideas?
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![Early morning. The Artists set out for breakfast at Jeff's Café in nearby Brune Street. Seated are the Artist's friends George Crompton and Tara McKerr]()
Artists
> 3 years ago
Eight things to know about Gilbert & George RA
With a new show at White Cube Bermondsey, the artistic duo tell us eight things about their lives, art, fame, bigots, liberals, Brexit, and their favourite East End Turkish restaurant.
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![Anthony van Dyck, Charles I in the Hunting Field (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
> 3 years ago
The life of Charles I: King, collector, tastemaker, traitor
Political turmoil in 17th-century Europe threw up exciting pickings for Charles I’s art collection. But after a civil war that led to his execution, his masterpieces were dispersed across the globe. Here, Jenny Uglow introduces our show finally reuniting the king’s treasures.
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![Hassan Hajjaj, Rider]()
RA Recommends
> 3 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in November
Remember, remember the month of November – gunpowder, treason and… art? If you’re not too busy with bonfires, toffee apples or toppling the government, here are a few art shows we recommend catching this month.
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![Portrait by David Vintiner]()
Artists
> 3 years ago
In the studio with David Adjaye RA
The international architect talks art collections, local communities and working for the disempowered at his London studio.
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![Tove Jansson, Sleeping in the Roots]()
RA Recommends
> 3 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in October
From the Turner Prize shortlist to Moomins creator Tove Jansson, here are 10 must-see exhibitions opening this month.
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![Salvador Dalí, Gala, Marcel Duchamp and three unidentified persons, Cadaqués, summer 1933 (detail). Photographer unknown]()
RA Exhibitions
> 3 years ago
Dalí and Duchamp: a curious camaraderie
The pair may seem like opposites, but our exhibition this autumn shows they shared surprising artistic interests. Here, curator Dawn Ades explores four aspects of their enduring affinity for each other’s work.
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![Thomas Ruff, Substrat 31 III (Substrate 31 III)]()
RA Recommends
> 3 years ago
10 computers, 2000 hours, one photograph: making pictures with Thomas Ruff
With four decades of his photographs currently showing at Whitechapel Gallery, the artist divulges the hidden world of his virtual darkroom.
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![Jenny Holzer, Untitled, from The Survival Series]()
Artists
> 3 years ago
The text art of Jenny Holzer: “crummy signs, my speciality?”
As the pioneering American artist covers Blenheim Palace with her provocative text-based work this autumn, she discusses a career of making art with words.
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![Emma Stibbon RA at the Spike Print Studio, Bristol]()
Artists
> 3 years ago
My art agenda: Emma Stibbon RA
With a solo show at London’s Alan Cristea Gallery this month, the printmaker shares the projects, exhibitions and places currently on her radar.
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![May Morris embroidering at 8 Hammersmith Terrace c.1920s (detail)]()
RA Recommends
> 3 years ago
Feminist, socialist, embroiderer: the untold story of May Morris
The pioneering artist and designer has been overshadowed by her father for over a century, but a new show at William Morris Gallery is stitching together the threads of her own remarkable career.
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![Jean dancing at the Mudd Club with painted t-shirt, 1979]()
RA Recommends
> 3 years ago
Jean-Michel Basquiat: downtown stray to international star
As a retrospective of the 1980s icon opens at the Barbican, art historian Morgan Falconer traces how the artist cracked the New York art scene and chased his wildest dreams.
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![Leonora Carrington]()
RA Recommends
> 3 years ago
Four art biographies to read this autumn
Art critic Michael Prodger recommends the best new biographies of artists and art lovers – from Renoir to Peggy Guggenheim.
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![Jasper Johns photographed by John Lund]()
RA Exhibitions
> 3 years ago
Jasper Johns: “Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it.”
This month the RA celebrates Jasper Johns as one of America’s greatest living artists – here art historian Barbara Rose explores the complex transformations of objects and images throughout his work.
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![Michael Craig-Martin, Tulip (after Mapplethorpe)]()
RA Recommends
> 3 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in August
From an exploration of recent LGBTQ+ art to a vibrant celebration of tulips, here’s our pick of the best new exhibitions to see this month.
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![, Illustrations by Ping Zhu]()
Opinion
< 4 years ago
Six ways to tackle the London studio crisis
The artist’s studio faces extinction in the capital if the property market continues to price artists out. But change might be afoot, reports architectural critic Hugh Pearman, as he explores six possible solutions.
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![Lorraine O'Grady, Art Is (Girlfriends Times Two)]()
RA Recommends
< 4 years ago
Bonnie Greer on black art: “we set out to discover what defined us”
Ahead of a Tate survey of Black art in America, Bonnie Greer tracks the emergence of a generation that defined itself on its own terms.
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![Installation view of the ‘Michelangelo & Sebastiano’ exhibition at the National Gallery, London, featuring the tondo]()
RA Recommends
< 4 years ago
The RA’s Michelangelo Tondo takes centre stage at the National Gallery
It may be only a short step from the RA to the National Gallery, but the loan of the Academy’s rarest treasure to the Michelangelo and Sebastiano show is a triumph of technical skill.
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![Raphael, Three Standing Men (detail)]()
RA Recommends
< 4 years ago
Perfection on paper: Raphael at Oxford’s Ashmolean
Rather than being supplementary to his paintings, were Raphael’s drawings works of genius in their own right? RA Magazine’s Sam Phillips argues the Ashmolean Museum’s once-in-a-lifetime show offers a rare chance to reassess this aspect of his work.
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![Varda Caivano]()
RA Exhibitions
< 4 years ago
The studios behind the Summer Exhibition
How are the capital’s artists using their working spaces today? In the spirit of this year’s Summer Exhibition, which is encouraging artists who have not shown before at the RA, Skye Sherwin visits first-time exhibitors at work to see what they are bringing to the Academy.
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![, Illustration by Nous Vous]()
Opinion
< 4 years ago
Debate: should artists unionise?
Is an artists’ union necessary? Bob and Roberta Smith RA and David Mach RA share their thoughts. Cast your vote below.
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![Palazzo Ca’ Pesaro, where David Hockney RA’s exhibition goes on display]()
Artists
< 4 years ago
Academicians to spot in Venice: Phyllida Barlow’s British pavilion and more
From David Hockney’s portraits in palazzi to Phyllida Barlow’s swollen sculptures in the British Pavilion, here’s the must-see work by Royal Academicians in this year’s biennale.
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![Phyllida Barlow's 'folly' at the 57th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, Viva Arte Viva]()
RA Recommends
< 4 years ago
10 to see at the 2017 Venice Biennale
Phyllida Barlow RA’s bulbous sculptures, Robert Cuoghi’s messiah machines and Damien Hirst’s demons – here are ten highlights of this year’s contemporary art spectacular.
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![Mamma Andersson, Cave]()
RA Recommends
< 4 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in May
From work inspired by life inside a Syrian prison to the colourful, geometric work of Rana Begum, here are some of the most unmissable exhibitions open this month.
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![Tim Scott, Quinquereme]()
RA Recommends
4 years ago
10 art exhibitions to see in April
From powerful and symbolic 20th-century war paintings to the first ever exhibition dedicated to queer British art, here’s the best art to see this month as chosen by the RA Magazine team.
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![Façade of the Museum Barberini, a reconstructed Baroque palace]()
RA Recommends
4 years ago
The new museum putting Potsdam on the map
The billionaire software entrepreneur Hasso Plattner has made Potsdam an international art destination with the opening of his Museum Barberini.
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![Left: Claude Cahun, 'I am in training don't kiss me', c.1927. Right: Gillian Wearing RA, 'Me as Cahun holding a mask of my face', 2012.]()
Artists
4 years ago
The many masks of Gillian Wearing and Claude Cahun
As a new show at the National Portrait Gallery places the two artists side by side, Lauren Elkin explores how Gillian Wearing RA finds identity-blurring inspiration in the inter-war writer and photographer Claude Cahun.
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![Designer Adrien Gardère and the RA’s President Christopher Le Brun don hard hats to visit the site of the new Collections Gallery in the RA’s Burlington Gardens]()
Inside the Academy
4 years ago
Behind the scenes: a new home for the RA Collections
While it’s business as usual in the galleries, elsewhere at the RA major building work is transforming the Academy for 2018. Exhibition designer Adrien Gardère and RA President Christopher Le Brun explore how the plans will reveal the historic RA Collections to the public.
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![Rudolf Vilde (State Porcelain Factory, Petrograd), Plate with the inscription ‘Workers' Victory 25 Oct.’ on a Red Banner (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
4 years ago
The tale of Russia’s revolutionary ceramics
Emma Crichton-Miller charts the fortunes of St Petersburg’s porcelain factory, from supplier of exclusive editions to the Russian court, to producer of high end Soviet agit-prop.
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![Cath Kidston with a Donald Judd screenprint of a cube in the old coachhouse of her Gloucestershire home (detail).]()
RA Exhibitions
4 years ago
A designer collection: Cath Kidston on the art in her life
With prints on her walls by Calder, Klee and Keith Haring, Cath Kidston has long been an avid collector, and the London Original Print Fair has been the designer’s hunting ground. Martin Gayford went to see the works adorning her Gloucestershire home.
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![RA Magazine's pick of art and food books this Spring]()
RA Recommends
4 years ago
The best art books for foodies
Rebecca Salter RA brings her artist’s palate to matters of taste, in a delicious round-up of the best books on art and food.
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![Gary Hume RA in the RA's Life drawing room]()
Inside the Academy
4 years ago
“It’s like making a garden” – Gary Hume RA on printmaking
He shot to fame as a painter, but for the past 20 years Gary Hume RA has also made prints. Amy Macpherson visits him at the RA Schools’ print workshop ahead of his selling show in the Keeper’s House.
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![Wolfgang Tillmans in his studio, 2017]()
Artists
4 years ago
In the studio with Wolfgang Tillmans RA
The photographer’s workspace in a former Berlin department store houses giant printers, tropical plants and DJ turntables. Anna Coatman meets the acclaimed artist and EU campaigner.
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![Pieter Brueghel the Younger , Wedding Dance in the Open Air]()
RA Recommends
4 years ago
Keeping it in the family: the Bruegel dynasty at Holburne Museum
A show on the Bruegel dynasty celebrates a reattribution of a key painting, says Laura Cumming.
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![Grant Wood, American Gothic (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
4 years ago
The reality behind American Gothic
As ‘America after the Fall’ brings some of the country’s most iconic works to Europe for the first time, Sarah Churchwell considers the cultural and political backdrop to Depression Era art.
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![Illustration by Martina Paukova]()
Opinion
4 years ago
Debate: is colour purely subjective?
Can we consider colours as purely subjective forces? Kassia St Clair and Emyr Williams go head to head. Vote on the winner below.
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![Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), The Drum Bridge at Kameido Tenjin Shrine, from the series 'Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces']()
RA Recommends
4 years ago
How do you get from the “American dream” to the Japanese house?
Sam Phillips finds the dotted line from the British Museum’s American prints through to Japanese architecture at the Barbican, in six sizzling spring shows.
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![Lubaina Himid, Le Rodeur: Exchange]()
RA Recommends
4 years ago
Five art shows to see this week: Modern Art Oxford, FOLD, and more
From the versatile exploration of light in contemporary art to Henry Moore’s peculiar collection of found objects, here are some of the best shows to see this week.
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![Konstantin Yuon, New Planet (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
> 4 years ago
The story of art in the Russian Revolution
With a momentous exhibition marking the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Martin Sixsmith charts the course of a pivotal period in art, from euphoric creativity to eventual repression.
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![The flooded Accademia Gallery in Florence, in 1966, with Michelangelo’s David at the far end]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
The tidemarks of Florence’s great flood
Fifty years since Florence was hit by the floods that destroyed not only lives but invaluable art treasures, Claudia Pritchard reports on the legacy.
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![Works featured in Portrait of the Artist at the Queen's Gallery. Details below.]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Lives of the artists: self-portraits and their stories
Artists have assumed many identities in paint, as a new exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery shows. Here are four self-portraits from the Royal Collection’s who’s who of great artists, and what they tell us about their makers.
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![Mathematics: The Winton Gallery, Science Museum. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Five art shows to see this week: National Gallery, Serpentine and more
From a far-flung group of Impressionists to two exhibitions dedicated to the work of the great Zaha Hadid RA, here are some of the best shows to visit this week.
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![Illustration by Bobby Evans]()
RA Exhibitions
> 4 years ago
“We didn’t think it was a movement” – meet the 1940s critics of Abstract Expressionism
Seeking advice as she co-curated our Abstract Expressionism exhibition, Edith Devaney went to New York to meet Dore Ashton and Irving Sandler – two commentators who championed the likes of Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning, and entertained them in their kitchens.
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![RA Magazine's pick of children's art books this Christmas]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
The best art books for kids
Eight gift ideas to awaken the imagination and dazzle the senses… Bob and Roberta Smith RA chooses the best children’s books about art and design.
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![Robert Rauschenberg, Triathlon (Scenario)]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Five art shows to see this week: Tate Modern, IKON and more
From a taxidermy goat in a car tyre to controversial feminist installations, here’s the best art to see this week.
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![Loyset Liédet, Pasiphaë]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Five of the best London archives
The RA archive is a treasure trove of stories, memories and recordings about art and artists from the past 250 years. In honour of Explore Your Archive week, we introduce some of its highlights and four more London archives to explore, holding everything from American performance art footage to rare Japanese prints.
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![John Wallbank, Untitled]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Five art shows to see this week: BALTIC, Jewish Museum and more
From overlooked ceramicists to the untold stories of artists’ assistants, we unearth the best art to see this week.
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![Rachel Maclean, We Want Data!]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Monsters, music and emojis: welcome to the world of Rachel Maclean
Anna Coatman meets the shape-shifting Scottish video artist, whose virtual worlds question the images and identities created in social media.
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![Basil Beattie RA and Aimée Parrott at the ‘Abstract Expressionism’ exhibition at the Royal Academy]()
RA Exhibitions
> 4 years ago
“Abstract Expressionism still makes me breathe deep”
How do painters from different generations see Abstract Expressionism today? Two RA Schools alumni, Basil Beattie RA and Aimée Parrott, met in the Academy’s show to discuss the movement’s enduring influence.
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![The restored exterior of London’s new Design Museum.]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
A look inside the new Design Museum
Ahead of its opening next week, architect Piers Gough RA gets a sneak preview of the museum’s new home – a reworking of the former Commonwealth Institute in London’s Holland Park.
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![, Illustration by Leonie Bos]()
Opinion
> 4 years ago
Debate: are utopian ideas good for architecture?
Can utopian ideals help architects to build better futures? Or are these efforts doomed to be too rigid, over-simplified and suppressive? Ian Ritchie RA and Hugh Pearman go head to head. Vote on the winner below.
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![Megan Broadmeadow, 10222]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Five art shows to see this week: virtual reality, Japanese photography and more
From raucous performance art in Glasgow to a multicoloured adventure into the world of 1970s disco dancefloors, here’s the best art to see this week.
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![Lucy Sparrow, The Beginning of Convenience]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Five art shows to see this week: Lucy Sparrow, Artes Mundi 7 and more
From the search for an art installation among England’s trees, to a one-woman operation to make a supermarket entirely of felt, here’s some of the best art to see this week.
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![Benedict Drew, KAPUT (detail)]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Five art shows to see this week: British Museum, Walker and more
A golden rhinoceros from South Africa, decorated drones from Pakistan and digital creatures from behind the computer screen – here’s some of the best art to see this week.
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![Kishio Suga, Left-Behind Situation]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
This week: five top art shows to see
From sculptural works made of everyday materials, to photographic works savouring everyday moments, the ordinary seems extraordinary in the best art shows this week.
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![Luc Tuymans, Untitled]()
RA Exhibitions
> 4 years ago
Luc Tuymans on Brexit, Ensor and the establishment
Belgium’s leading contemporary painter, who curates the RA’s James Ensor exhibition, tells Sam Phillips why it is time to reassess Ensor’s art.
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![James Ensor, The Intrigue (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
> 4 years ago
James Ensor: A man of many masks
The Belgian artist James Ensor painted life through the lens of the carnival, creating unsettling and often satirical works. Michael Prodger searches for the man behind these intriguing images.
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![Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Super Blue Omo]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
This week: five top art shows to see
From a road trip chasing presidents’ hometowns in the USA, to galleries filled with pebbles, trees and dancers, we explore the best art for the week ahead.
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![Pablo Picasso, Woman in a Hat (Olga) (detail)]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Hats off to Picasso
Picasso’s friends and family are the focus of an exhibition showing how portraiture pushed the artist forward, writes Christopher Baker
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![Peter Norton photographed by Ida Kar in the mid-1950s]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Three female gallerists who changed the course of British art
Despite the image of art dealing as a man’s world, women played a crucial role in the display, promotion and sale of 20th-century British art. Gill Hedley profiles three female gallerists who promoted British artists.
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![Daphne Wright, Kitchen Table (detail)]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
This week: five top art shows to see
From the reconstruction of human faces through prosthetic advancements during WWI, to the reconstruction of farmyard animals’ faces using marble dust and resin, we take in the best shows to see this week.
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![Juno Calypso, Reconstituted Meat Slice (From the series ‘Joyce’)]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 9 – 15 September
From a Brutalist labyrinth in the heart of London, to the baroque grandeur of a countryside palace, here’s where to find the best art this week.
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![Thomas Gainsborough RA (detail), Portrait of James Christie]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
James Christie: the eloquent auctioneer
As Christie’s auction house celebrates 250 years of wielding the gavel, Martin Oldham tracks down its founder James Christie, a man who turned the humble auction into the spectacle it remains to this day.
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![Exhibition view of 'Dada Africa: Dialogue with the Other', Berlinische Galerie, 2016 (detail)]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Alternative roots: How tribal art influenced Modernism
Modern artists rejected the Western canon in favour of tribal art, writes Simon Wilson, as he takes in shows in Vienna and Berlin.
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![Way Out West Berlin (Detail Section at L at Stage E)]()
Artists
> 4 years ago
Cities of dreams: Peter Cook RA on the importance of imagination
As the Academy stages a show of Peter Cook RA’s drawings to mark his 80th birthday, Kate Goodwin asks the architect about his vision for urban ways of life.
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![Edward Onslow Ford , Snowdrift]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
New horizons: Elizabeth Price on the downside of video art and trying curating
Video artist Elizabeth Price is curating a show in Manchester that explores the horizontal in art. Anna Coatman meets her and finds the concept works on many levels.
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![Mark Rothko, Untitled (Violet, Black, Orange, Yellow on White and Red)]()
RA Exhibitions
> 4 years ago
How Abstract Expressionism changed modern art
What did the artists associated with Abstract Expressionism do so differently? And how is their work still relevant today? As the first survey of Abstract Expressionism for nearly 60 years is staged in Britain, co-curator David Anfam answers key questions.
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![Illustration by Yukai Du]()
Opinion
> 4 years ago
Debate: Is originality in art overrated?
Should artists bow to tradition, or should they break all the rules? Martin Gayford and Richard Cork go head to head. Vote on the winner below.
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![Brian Catling RA in his studio]()
Artists
> 4 years ago
Brian Catling RA’s imaginary studio
The ebullient, multimedia artist-poet Brian Catling RA is reluctant to identify his studio as a physical space, as Fiona Maddocks discovered when she met up with him in Oxford.
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![Dinh Q. Lê, Chincha Norte Island]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 26 August – 1 September
From underwater theatre in the Square Mile to the bright lights of Blackpool, we guide you through the best of this week’s art events and exhibitions.
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![, 'Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick' at Somerset House: Installation view]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 12 – 18 August
From ‘liquid painting’ at Battersea Park to the weird world of Stanley Kubrick, we guide you through the best of this week’s art events and exhibitions.
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![Lodewijk Toeput (Pozzoserrato), Pleasure Garden with a Maze]()
RA Recommends
> 4 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 5 – 11 August
From thrones modelled out of guns to charting the changing face of artist self-portraits, we guide you through the best of this week’s art events and exhibitions.
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![Alan Williams, The Whitworth]()
RA Recommends
< 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 24 – 30 June
From surreal sculptures hanging off the gallery wall to ankle boots crafted entirely out of grass, we guide you through the best of this week’s art events and exhibitions.
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![Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Tie The Temptress To The Trojan]()
RA Recommends
< 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 17 – 23 June
From ink drawings that look at the destruction of Syrian relics to a multimedia celebration of fabric and textiles, we guide you through the best of this week’s art events and exhibitions.
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![David Hockney painting Barry Humphries in Los Angeles, 27th March 2015]()
Artists
< 5 years ago
A brush with genius: Barry Humphries on sitting for David Hockney RA
David Hockney RA returns to the Academy this summer with his sparkling new series of portraits. Barry Humphries, creator of Dame Edna Everage and friend of the artist, recounts his experience of sitting for a portrait in Hockney’s Los Angeles studio.
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![, Call me by my name]()
RA Recommends
< 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 2 June – 9 June
From a new museum concept that addresses the migrant crisis to paintings by the talented but largely forgotten Winifred Knights, we guide you through the best of this week’s art events and exhibitions.
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![Elizabeth Fullerton, Artrage! The Story of the? BritArt Revolution]()
RA Recommends
< 5 years ago
The best new art books for summer
Michael Prodger heads for the beach with his pick of the best holiday reads on artists – in fact and fiction.
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![Etel Adnan , Untitled]()
RA Recommends
< 5 years ago
The poetry of paint: an interview with Etel Adnan
For Etel Adnan, art world success came late – in her eighties. Anna Coatman met the writer and painter in Paris ahead of a major show in London.
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![Yayoi Kusama, All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins]()
RA Recommends
< 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 23 May - 2 June
From captivating live shows at London’s first performance art festival to Yayoi Kusama’s glossy oversized pumpkin sculptures, we guide you through the best of this week’s art events and exhibitions.
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![Kira Freije in her studio at the RA Schools]()
RA Exhibitions
< 5 years ago
Great expectations: students of the RA Schools prepare for their final show
The stage is set and the pressure is on as third-year students from the RA Schools prepare work for their final show, which opens to the public this summer in the studios of the RA. Jonathan P. Watts goes behind the scenes to meet the artists at this critical point.
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![Bill Jacklin RA]()
RA Exhibitions
< 5 years ago
Bill Jacklin RA on New York, his home for two decades
No one captures New York quite like Bill Jacklin RA, who moved to the Big Apple in the 1980s and never looked back. Nancy Campbell caught up with him ahead of his show of prints and drawings at the RA.
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![Artist Diana Taylor leads a workshop for college students as part of the RA’s hoardings project]()
Inside the Academy
< 5 years ago
Art on the streets: students create designs for the hoardings of the RA
Students have created a giant collage to greet passers-by while restoration work takes place at the RA’s Burlington Gardens building. Harriet Baker finds out how they made it.
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![View of the new Tate Modern extension site, 2016]()
RA Recommends
< 5 years ago
Turning to Tate Modern: Royal Academicians reflect on the Switch House
As Tate puts the finishing touches to its monumental new extension, architect Eric Parry RA considers its aesthetic and cultural impact, while painters Gillian Ayres RA and Timothy Hyman RA preview accompanying retrospective shows of Khakhar and O’Keeffe.
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![Jake and Dinos Chapman]()
RA Exhibitions
< 5 years ago
Seeing double: artist duos in the Summer Exhibition
Artist duos are challenging the concept of individual authorship. Now they are celebrated at this year’s Summer Exhibition. Fiona Maddocks asks four pairs of artists how they collaborate.
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![Debate: what is the role of the critic?]()
Opinion
< 5 years ago
Debate: Should critics ever savage the work of artists?
Without the contrast to harsh judgements, does praise have any meaning? Or is the role of the critic to simply inform and encourage readers to go and see for themselves? Jonathan Jones and Simon Wilson go head to head. Vote on the winner below.
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![Thomas Frederick Goodall, The Bow Net]()
RA Recommends
< 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 6 – 13 May
The National Gallery unveils work by its artist in residence, while a show at Tate explores the relationship between British art and photography. We pick the week’s best shows.
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![Mona Hatoum, Light Sentence]()
RA Recommends
< 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 29 April – 6 May
From a long-awaited survey of Mona Hatoum at Tate Modern to a display featuring Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara’s iconic cartoon girl, we pick the week’s best shows.
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![Georg Baselitz, Oh dear, ma tutto occupato (Ach herrje, ma tutto occupato)]()
RA Recommends
< 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 22 April – 29 April
From a major Alberto Giacometti show at the Sainsbury Centre to a rare display of contemporary Arab art at Whitechapel Gallery, we pick the week’s best art.
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![Unknown, 14th Century copy of a map of Sicily from Al-Idrisi’s Treatise]()
RA Recommends
5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 15 – 22 April
From a display of ancient Sicilian treasures to bawdy illustrations by legendary cartoonist R. Crumb, we pick the week’s best art events.
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![Dan Flavin, Installation view, untitled (to Don Judd, colorist) 1-5]()
RA Recommends
5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 8 – 15 April
From a mesmerising display of Dan Flavin’s neon works in Birmingham to an exhibition focusing on Giacometti’s early sculpture, we pick the week’s top shows.
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![, Yinka Shonibare RA in front of his work The British Library]()
RA Recommends
5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 25 March – 1 April
From a celebration of Jamaican Dancehall EP covers, to the unveiling of work by Yinka Shonibare RA, there’s plenty to see this Bank Holiday weekend.
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![Valentin Serov, Portrait of Ivan Morozov]()
RA Recommends
5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 18 – 25 March
From an eccentric exhibition of cartoonist David Shrigley’s work to a rare display of Russian portraiture, we pick the week’s best art events.
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![Sarah Lucas, Installation View]()
RA Recommends
5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 10 – 17 March
From provocative Sarah Lucas sculptures in the Soane Museum to a view of Britain from the perspectives of international photographers at the Barbican, we pick the week’s best art events.
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![Giorgione, La Vecchia (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
5 years ago
The enigma of Giorgione
Giorgione left few clues to his life, yet he was at the heart of a creative explosion in 16th-century Venetian painting that changed the course of European art. Ali Smith brings to life the fusion of originality and poetry in his work.
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![Giovanni Cariani, Saint Agatha (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
5 years ago
Going for gold: Venice in the 16th century
The first decade of the 16th century saw Venice become a creative cauldron, as a glittering array of painters put the city on the cusp of an artistic golden age. Sarah Dunant celebrates some of the most influential figures.
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![Yin Xin, Venus, after Botticelli]()
RA Recommends
5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 4 – 11 March
From the unveiling of a colossal public sculpture in London to a blockbuster exhibition of Botticelli’s paintings, we present the week’s top shows.
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![Sandro Botticelli, Pallas and the Centaur (detail)]()
RA Recommends
5 years ago
Botticelli: A touch of the divine
Botticelli was a huge success, then virtually forgotten before his resurrection by the Pre-Raphaelites, reveals Simon Wilson ahead of a lavish V&A show.
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![Hilma af Klint, Group IV, No. 3, The Ten Largest, Youth]()
RA Recommends
5 years ago
Hilma af Klint: The spirit moved her
The Swedish painter Hilma af Klint was making abstract art before Kandinsky, but her spiritualist methods have undermined her standing in art history. Now her work is being reassessed at the Serpentine Galleries.
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![Eugène Delacroix, Christ on the Sea of Galilee]()
RA Recommends
5 years ago
Delacroix: Revolutionary fervour
As an exhibition opens on Delacroix and his legacy, Martin Oldham draws out three qualities that mark him as a modern artist.
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![Richard Smith, Untitled]()
RA Recommends
5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 26 February – 4 March
From erotically-charged artworks in Mayfair to a new gallery opening in Letchworth Garden City, we present the week’s top shows.
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![Yoko Ono, Eyeblink]()
RA Recommends
5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 19 – 25 February
As Tate examines the “selfie” throughout art history, Modern Art Oxford celebrates its 50th birthday. See what shows are opening this week.
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![Bridget Riley, Rise 1]()
RA Recommends
5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 12 – 18 February
From a survey of Romanticism in British art to the discovery of a Norwegian master, we bring you the must-see shows this week.
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![Hieronymus Bosch, “The–Haywain”, the central panel from The Haywain]()
RA Recommends
5 years ago
Hieronymus Bosch: odd man out
Hieronymus Bosch’s home town celebrates the artist’s 500th anniversary with a spectacular retrospective, says Martin Oldham.
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![Flowers and foliage line the garden path of Monet's garden at Giverny]()
RA Exhibitions
5 years ago
Natural affinity: six gardeners pick their favourite painters
Garden historian Tim Richardson explores the relationship between artists and garden-makers, and selects six of the world’s most celebrated garden designers to shed new light on the artists in Painting the Modern Garden.
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![Nick Danziger, Zakiya, Gaza Strip]()
RA Recommends
5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 29 January – 4 February
From intimate insight into lives and deaths of everyday Ancient Egyptians to a poignant display of war zone documentary, we bring you the must-see shows this week.
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![John Akomfrah, Tropikos]()
RA Recommends
5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 22 – 28 January
From a multi-channel video installation to an immersive recreation of a modern master’s studio, we bring you the must-see shows opening this week.
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![Grayson Perry, The Adoration of the Cage Fighters]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 8 – 14 January
From paintings on the coast in Bournemouth and Margate to arresting multi-media installations in London, we bring you the must-see shows opening this week.
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![J. M. W. TURNER (1775-1851), The Piazzetta, Venice]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 1 – 7 January
From JWM Turner in Edinburgh to an exhibition of friendship and fine art in London, we bring you the must-see shows this week.
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![Felicia Glowacka, Untitled]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
The forgotten wonder of Felicia Glowacka
A London gallery has unveiled a cache of tiny figure drawings by a little-known Polish artist, whose work shows a mastery of gestural skill.
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![Rose Wylie RA in her Kent studio]()
Artists
> 5 years ago
In the studio with Rose Wylie RA
In Rose Wylie RA’s Kent studio, paint spatters are everywhere. Fiona Maddocks meets the artist whose star is shining late in life.
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!['The Juicers' by Laura Eldret at fig-2]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 18 – 24 December
From a celebration of the practice of drawing to the last in the fig-2 series, we bring you the must-see shows this week.
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![Saaidyat Cultural District]()
Opinion
> 5 years ago
The rise of the Middle Eastern mega-museum
In recent years there has been rapid growth of major museums in the Middle East. Anthony Downey investigates the social, political and ethical challenges that face these new institutions.
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![Fabio Mauri, Oscuramento (Darkening)]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 11 – 17 December
From a unique photography project on display in Liverpool to an installation of interactive tales in South London, we bring you the must-see shows opening this week.
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![Carel Weight RA , The Departing Angel]()
Inside the Academy
> 5 years ago
Artist, collector, benefactor: the legacy of Carel Weight RA
New spaces at the Academy in 2018 will showcase the RA’s superb art collection. Laura Gascoigne delves into the bequest of Carel Weight RA, an artist who donated outstanding works.
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![Live music inside L'Altro Mondo, Rimini, 1967.]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 4 – 10 December
From softly abstract paintings in London to a macabre installation at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, we bring you the must-see shows opening this week.
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![Johannes Vermeer, Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman, ?or The Music Lesson]()
Opinion
> 5 years ago
The pleasure principle: Dutch Golden Age art at the Royal Collection
The Royal Collection’s show of Dutch Golden Age genre painting is not only visually compelling but also delightfully seductive in subject matter, despite moralising intent.
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![Brian Griffiths BILL MURRAY: a story of distance, size and sincerity 2015]()
RA Exhibitions
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 27 November – 3 December
From a meditation on the image and idea of superstar Bill Murray to a restorative art apothecary, we bring you the must-see shows opening this week.
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![Sturtevant, 1924-2014, Warhol Flowers]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 20 – 26 November
From the artists of the Japanese Mono-ha movement in London, to an imaginary museum in Liverpool, we bring you the must-see shows opening this week.
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![Martin Brudnizki in the redesigned Academicians’ Room in the Keeper’s House at the RA]()
Inside the Academy
> 5 years ago
Meet the designer of the new-look Academicians’ Room
Less salon, more living room – that’s the ambience of the new-look Academicians’ Room, where club members can relax along with Royal Academicians.
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![Kara Walker, Norma]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 13 – 19 November
From Kara Walker’s striking sketches, to Winter Light at Waddesdon Manor, we recommend five exhibitions across the UK to see this week.
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![Claude Monet , Water Lilies (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
> 5 years ago
Wartime water lilies: how Monet created his garden at Giverny
Curator Ann Dumas sets the scene for our major exhibition of garden painters, revealing how Monet’s passion for plants pushed the boundaries of his art.
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![Should artists have last say on conservation?]()
Opinion
> 5 years ago
Debate: Should artists have final say on conservation?
Is how an artist’s work is conserved part of their remit as its creator, or is it a decision for those caring for and interpreting the work for the public? An artist and an art historian go head to head.
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![Julia Margaret Cameron, My Favourite Picture, My Niece Julia]()
Opinion
> 5 years ago
Chantal Joffe RA delights in the photographs of Julia Margaret Cameron
As two new shows celebrate the 200th anniversary of Julia Margaret Cameron, painter Chantal Joffe RA explains why her photographs interest and inspire her.
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![Alphonse Mucha, Reverie]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 6 – 12 November
From the beautiful Art Nouveau designs of Alphonse Mucha to the otherworldly work of Anne Hardy, we guide you through our recommendations of art events and exhibitions to see this week.
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![Chantal Akerman, D’est, au bord de la fiction (From the East: bordering on fiction)]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 29 October – 5 November
From the alluring sculptures of Cristina Iglesias to Bristol & Bath’s Art Weekender, we highlight our recommendations of art to see this week.
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![The Royal charter and roll of obligation of the Society of Artists, showing names that were struck off]()
Inside the Academy
> 5 years ago
History uncovered: Britain’s first arts organisation
A review of the RA Collection has turned up a vital historical document, the Royal charter of the Society of Artists. RA archivist Mark Pomeroy explains.
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![Cy Twombly, Quattro Stagioni: Autunno, from Quattro Stagioni (A Painting in Four Parts)]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 22 – 28 October
From monumental abstract painting on the Sussex coast to meditative sonic art in a Soho basement, we guide you through the must-see exhibitions in the UK this week.
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![Charles Eames in the plywood Lounge and Ottoman. Photograph for an advertisement,1956: The World of Charles and Ray Eames]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
The world of Charles and Ray Eames
Charles and Ray Eames contributed much more to art and design than their iconic chairs, as a Barbican exhibition reveals.
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![Anne Desmet, Palmyra: Approaching Storm]()
Artists
> 5 years ago
Anne Desmet: Time is of the essence
Anne Desmet RA is known for her prints and collages exploring space and time. But in her new show she combines these with objects in unusual and playful ways.
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![Keiichi Tanaami, Collage Book9_18(1969-1975)]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Frieze Masters goes Pop
Looking for something unusual at the October art fairs? Head for Frieze Masters Spotlight section.
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![Frieze London 2014]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Your A to Z guide to Frieze week
As an alphabet of art opens in London to coincide with the Frieze art fairs, we give you the ABC guide to the top shows to see.
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![Merete Rasmussen, Yellow Open Form]()
Opinion
> 5 years ago
RA Recommends: this autumn in Yorkshire
From the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to the newly opened Centre of Ceramic Art, the county hosts some outstanding shows this autumn.
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![Francisco de Goya, Don Andrés del Peral (detail)]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
An honest face: Goya’s groundbreaking portraits
As the first show of Goya’s portraiture opens today, Caroline Bugler considers three ways the Spanish master broke the genre’s boundaries.
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![Benjamin west PRA, The Death of General Wolfe]()
Inside the Academy
> 5 years ago
Benjamin West: a very contemporary artist
As his biography of Benjamin West PRA is published, Loyd Grossman reveals how this founding member of the Academy broke with the past like no other artist of his era.
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![Kara Walker, The Jubilant Martyrs of Obsolescence and Ruin]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 2 – 8 October
From the polyphonic world of Rachel Rose, to a fascinating insight into metric photography, we highlight the best of this week’s art openings, exhibitions and events.
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![Installation view of Ai Weiwei@Helsinki]()
Opinion
> 5 years ago
Ai Weiwei at Helsinki Art Museum
RA Magazine’s Gill Crabbe pays a visit to Ai Weiwei’s new wood-themed exhibition in Helsinki.
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![Ai Weiwei, Free-speech Puzzle]()
Opinion
> 5 years ago
Author Ma Jian on Ai Weiwei and freedom of expression in China
Ma Jian is renowned for his novels exploring subjects censored in China, where his books are banned, and he has been barred from entering the Chinese mainland. Ahead of Ai Weiwei’s RA retrospective, we asked the writer about his admiration for the artist, and about the limits of free expression in China.
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![David Hockney, The Luxor Hotel]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 25 September — 1 October
From David Hockney’s early drawings to breathtaking Celtic objects, we guide you through seven great art events and exhibitions to see this week.
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![Jean-Etienne Liotard, L’ecriture]()
RA Exhibitions
> 5 years ago
Jean-Etienne Liotard: pastel pioneer
The Swiss artist Jean-Etienne Liotard was one of the great portraitists of the Enlightenment. Christopher Baker introduces the idiosyncratic Orientalist whose travels through the courts of Europe and beyond resulted in works of exceptional delicacy.
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![Courtyard 241, Caochangdi, Beijing, 2007]()
Opinion
> 5 years ago
Ai Weiwei’s alternative vision for Beijing’s buildings
With a display on Beijing’s Caochangdi in our Architecture Space, our curator discusses the Ai Weiwei-designed buildings of this artists’ region, and their place in a rapidly developing city.
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![Georges Seurat, Bridge at Courbevoie]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 18 – 24 September
From Frank Bowling’s ‘Poured Paintings’ to Nollywood videos in Peckham, we guide you through our pick of this week’s art events.
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![Edmund de Waal, a mind of winter (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
> 5 years ago
Edmund de Waal on his new project ‘white’
This autumn, the RA Library and Print Room will host a project by Edmund de Waal: an exploration of the colour white. Here, he takes us through some of the objects on display.
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![George Barber, Fences Make Sense]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 4 – 10 September
From Jennifer Rubell’s newborn baby made from hand-blown glass to the abstract works of ‘Los Diez Pintores Concretos’, we guide you through the week’s top art events.
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![Ai Weiwei, He Xie]()
RA Exhibitions
> 5 years ago
Ai of the tiger: Sam Phillips meets Ai Weiwei in his Beijing studio
Fearless and uncompromising, Ai Weiwei’s art challenges cultural values, confronts injustices and pushes materials to their limit. Sam Phillips talks to the artist about his show at the RA, which he was not expecting to be able to attend.
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![Damien Hirst and John Hoyland RA]()
Artists
> 5 years ago
Damien Hirst in conversation with John Hoyland RA
The late John Hoyland RA told Damien Hirst about meeting Francis Bacon, and what it is to be a painter.
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![Chris Wilkinson RA, Concept drawings for the Crown Sydney Hotel (due for completion in 2019)]()
RA Exhibitions
> 5 years ago
Thoughts on paper: the sketchbooks of Chris Wilkinson RA
Chris Wilkinson RA has continued to value hand drawing in an age where digital software prevails in architectural offices. Hugh Pearman meets him as a show opens at the RA to accompany the publication of his sketchbooks.
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![Daniel Maclise, Cartoon for 'The Meeting of Wellington and Blücher After the Battle of Waterloo' (detail)]()
Inside the Academy
> 5 years ago
The Waterloo Cartoon: a poem by Owen Shears
To mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, and the Academy’s display of Daniel Maclise RA’s extraordinary drawing, Owen Sheers writes a poem considering its significance in the context of war art.
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![Sean Scully RA’s work at the chapel of St Cecillia at Montserrat Monastery, near Barcelona]()
Artists
> 5 years ago
Sean Scully RA pays homage to Catalonia
The abstract art of Sean Scully RA is installed in the 9th century church of Santa Cecilia in Catalonia.
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![Théodore Géricault, The Raft of the Medusa]()
Opinion
> 5 years ago
More than meets the eye: Julian Barnes on art
In his new book of essays, Julian Barnes offers insightful lessons in how to look at – and read about – art.
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![Amy Stephens, something. anything. everything.]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 28 August – 3 September
From the psychedelic, cacophonous videos of South Africa’s Dineo Seshee Bopape, to the abandoned Saharan film sets in Ben Rivers’ latest cinematic work, we guide you through the week’s top art events.
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![Frank Auerbach, Head of E.O.W II (detail)]()
Opinion
> 5 years ago
Hard-won images: Frank Auerbach and Alberto Giacometti
The intensely wrought paintings of Frank Auerbach find their match in Giacometti’s sculptures, as two shows reveal, says Simon Wilson.
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![Sonia Lawson RA in her studio]()
Artists
> 5 years ago
In the studio with Sonia Lawson RA
Despite various challenges, including a leaking roof, Sonia Lawson RA is keen to return to her garden studio, says Fiona Maddocks.
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![Marcello Morandini: Sculptures, Scultura 526]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 21 – 27 August
From the dystopian installations of Josh Kline, to the shadowy, marginalised life of Pierre Molinier, we guide you through the week’s top art events.
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![View of Kettle's Yard extension showing the Buddha and works by Mario Sironi, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Ben Nicholson]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 14 – 20 August
From the multi-sensory sculptures of Paul Neagu to an astronomy-inspired installation at the Whitworth, we guide you through the week’s top art events.
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![Richard Long RA, A Circle in Antarctica]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 7 – 13 August
From the conceptual land art of Richard Long RA to Thomas Ruff’s new photographic series of inverted plants, we take you through the week’s top art shows.
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![Alice Anderson, Ropes]()
RA Recommends
> 5 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 24 – 30 July
From the exuberant paintings of the late Albert Irvin RA to the Alice Anderson’s series of objects mummified entirely in copper thread, we guide you through the week’s top art events.
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![Anthony Caro, Forum]()
RA Recommends
< 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 17 – 23 July
From a major survey of Anthony Caro RA’s work at The Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle to the abstract paintings of William Gear RA, we guide you through the week’s top art events.
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![Jenny Holzer, Memorial Bench II: Eye cut by flying glass…]()
RA Recommends
< 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 10 – 16 July
From the best of contemporary and modern British painting to a cabinet of curiosities by Fiona Tan, we guide you through the week’s top art events.
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![Weng Fen, On the Wall – Shenzhen (I)]()
RA Recommends
< 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 3 – 9 July
From the exploration of contemporary Chinese art at The Whitworth to Eloise Hawser’s appropriation of a cinema organ, we guide you through the week’s top art events.
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![Olaf Breuning, Smoke installation]()
RA Recommends
< 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 26 June – 2 July
From Jackson Pollock’s pivotal series of black pourings to the monumental sculptures of Phyllida Barlow RA, we guide you through the week’s top art events.
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![Palma Vecchio, Venus in a Landscape]()
RA Recommends
< 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 19 – 25 June
From the fairytale paintings of Richard Dadd to the ‘unfinished’ works at the Courtauld Gallery, we take you through our top shows this week.
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![Ishbel Myerscough, Mothers and Daughters]()
RA Recommends
< 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 12 – 18 June
From a flying machine at the Hayward Gallery to the optical art of Bridget Riley, we guide you through the week’s top art events.
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![James Turrell, West Façade Illumination]()
RA Recommends
< 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 5 – 11 June
From live art performances directed by Lu Kemp to James Turrell’s high intensity illuminations at Houghton Hall, we guide you through this week’s top shows.
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![William De Morgan, Parrot and Snake tile panel]()
RA Recommends
< 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 29 May - 4 June
From Ryoji Ikeda’s immersive installation at Brewer Street Car Park to the design icons from the Arts and Crafts Movement, we take you through our top shows this week.
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![Adham Faramawy, Wet Look/Dry Wall 2]()
RA Recommends
< 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 23 – 28 May
From international photography event Photo London to a Magna Carta tapestry by Cornelia Parker RA, we guide you through the week’s top art events.
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![Joseph Cornell, Untitled (Pinturicchio Boy) (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
< 6 years ago
Joseph Cornell: Pioneer of assemblage art
Joseph Cornell created curious worlds of long ago and far away in his boxes of found objects. We examine the work of this American trailblazer ahead of his RA exhibition.
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![Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, No Place for Nature]()
Artists
< 6 years ago
Preview: Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at the Serpentine
The imagined portraits by this RA Schools alumna and Turner Prize nominee are revelations from another world, says Kelly Grovier.
-
![Jackson Pollock, Number 5 (detail)]()
Opinion
< 6 years ago
Jackson Pollock: pouring his art out
Leading abstract painter Frank Bowling RA welcomes a major show that reassesses Jackson Pollock’s black pourings.
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![Michael Craig-Martin RA in his studio, 2014 (detail)]()
Artists
< 6 years ago
Michael Craig-Martin, man for all seasons
As Michael Craig-Martin RA co-ordinates this year’s Summer Exhibition, the Curator and Head of the RA Schools Eliza Bonham Carter discovers in a new book what makes this leading artist and teacher tick.
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![Louisa Hutton RA]()
Artists
< 6 years ago
In the studio with Louisa Hutton RA
Behind redbrick walls in an old Berlin factory Fiona Maddocks finds architect Louisa Hutton RA in a calm and spacious haven.
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![8 St James’s Square by Eric Parry RA, with Stephen Cox RA’s two sculptures: an inscribed rail and a relief figure]()
Artists
< 6 years ago
Stephen Cox RA and Eric Parry RA: set in stone
Art and architecture combine on a corner of London’s St James’s, where Stephen Cox RA has integrated sculpture into Eric Parry RA’s building. Sam Phillips reports.
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![Are we building too many museums?]()
Opinion
< 6 years ago
Are we building too many museums?
Would building more museums help to improve society or be a wasteful luxury? Theatre-maker Stella Duffy and curator Kieran Long go head to head. Read both sides then vote in the poll below.
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![Eduardo Paolozzi, Designs for the mosaics on the Central Line station platforms at Tottenham Court Road]()
Opinion
< 6 years ago
Paolozzi’s threatened Tottenham Court Road mosaics
As parts of Eduardo Paolozzi RA’s mosaics are removed from Tottenham Court Road tube station ahead of Crossrail, Richard Cork hopes that Transport for London will honour its promises.
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![Eileen Cooper, Dancer 1 (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
< 6 years ago
Eileen Cooper RA on her secrets of drawing
Eileen Cooper RA’s figures exude a fluid spontaneity. Laura Gascoigne meets the artist, ahead of her show of drawings at the Academy.
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![David Chipperfield RA and Conrad Shawcross RA in Green Park]()
Artists
< 6 years ago
David Chipperfield RA meets Conrad Shawcross RA
RA Magazine’s Guest Editor David Chipperfield RA meets Conrad Shawcross RA in Green Park to talk trees and tetrahedrons, ahead of the sculptor’s spectacular work that greets visitors to the Summer Exhibition.
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![David Hockney , The Red Table]()
RA Recommends
< 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 16 – 23 May
From David Hockney RA at Annely Juda Fine Art to sculptures by Conrad Shawcross RA and Barbara Hepworth in Salisbury, we guide you through the week’s top art events.
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![David Chipperfield RA]()
Inside the Academy
< 6 years ago
David Chipperfield RA on transforming the Royal Academy
In this video, architect David Chipperfield RA discusses his plans for opening up the Royal Academy ahead of our 250th anniversary in 2018.
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![A cross-section of the Royal Academy’s site in 2018]()
Inside the Academy
< 6 years ago
Grand union: an in-depth look at the RA’s redevelopment
Burlington Gardens, the stately building behind Burlington House, is the RA’s second home. As the Academy prepares for its 250th anniversary, John Tusa reveals the plans to unite and revitalise the two buildings, transforming this artist-led institution
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![Burlington House]()
Inside the Academy
< 6 years ago
Four views on the Royal Academy’s future
Four key figures connected to the RA look forward to a major transformation at the Academy in 2018.
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![Bernhard Schobinger, Das Innere des Ausseren]()
RA Recommends
< 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 8 – 15 May
From Sarah Lucas’s erotic sculptures at the Venice Biennale to Jeff Koons at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, we guide you through the week’s top art events.
-
![Henry Moore’s ‘Draped Seated Woman’ (1957-58) in its original site at Stifford Estate, Stepney Gren, c.1962]()
Opinion
< 6 years ago
The precarious future of public art
As the local government funding gap grows, councils will cash in on their art collections, warns Louisa Buck
-
![Debora Delmar , Upward Mobility Upper Gallery]()
RA Recommends
< 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 23 – 30 April
This week, RA Magazine travels to Oxford to take a look at a cluster of art events opening in the city, from the Ashmolean to the Bodleian Library.
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!['Art and Infrastructure', Illustration by Miguel Montaner, 2015]()
Opinion
< 6 years ago
Three ways art could change Britain
Visual art can shape approaches across public policy. Here are three unlikely areas where art and artists can make a difference.
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![Bob & Roberta Smith , Vote]()
RA Recommends
6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 10 – 16 April
From Vote Art at Peckham Platform to Jo Baer’s paintings at Camden Arts Centre, here are six shows to see this week.
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![Eric Ravilious, Tea at Furlongs]()
RA Recommends
6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 4 – 11 April
From political art at Nottingham Contemporary to Ravilious’s engravings in Dulwich, here are five shows to see this week.
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![Ilissos. Designed by Phidias, Athens, Greece, , Marble statue of a river god from the West pediment of the Parthenon.]()
RA Recommends
6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 27 March – 3 April
From Greek sculptures at the British Museum to Helena Almeida’s inhabited drawings.
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![Jenny Saville with 'Voice of the Shuttle (Philomela)']()
RA Exhibitions
6 years ago
A conversation with Rubens: Tim Marlow interviews Jenny Saville RA
Rubens’s influence on painting extends right up to today, as a room curated by Jenny Saville RA for ‘Rubens and His Legacy’ reveals. Tim Marlow asks the painter about her response to the Flemish master as both artist and curator.
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![Lee Ufan , Relatum, Lover]()
RA Recommends
6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 21 – 28 March
From abstract paintings at the National Portrait Gallery to a British art sale at Sotheby’s.
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![An RA volunteer works with a child to make a ‘forest in a box’ in response to the RA’s recent Kiefer show, at a family workshop for children with special educational needs]()
Inside the Academy
6 years ago
All for art: an introduction to the RA’s Access programme
How do you break the barriers that stop people coming to an art institution? Caroline Bugler gets some first-hand experience of the RA’s creative sessions that encourage access for everyone.
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![Sargy Mann, Lucas Gardens]()
Artists
6 years ago
Chantal Joffe: Me and my mentors
In the latest in our series on turning points in artists’ careers, Chantal Joffe RA tells Sam Phillips about the impact two teachers had on her work.
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![Lill Tschudi, Village Fair I]()
Opinion
6 years ago
How to shop the London Original Print Fair
As the fair celebrates its 30th birthday, we give one of our printmaker Academicians an imaginary cheque to spend…
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![Francisco de Goya, Nightmare]()
Opinion
6 years ago
Drawing on our fears: Timothy Hyman RA on Goya
Timothy Hyman RA ponders the dark and visionary nature of Goya’s drawings, as an entire album of his sheets come together in a rare reunion.
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![Tom Phillips RA in his studio]()
Artists
6 years ago
House of curiosities: in the studio with Tom Phillips RA
When Tom Phillips RA rented a room in a south London house 50 years ago, little did he know the entire house would become his studio.
-
![Claude Monet , Poplars in the Sun]()
RA Recommends
6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 6 – 13 March
From Impressionist paintings at The National Gallery to mixed media installations at Baltic.
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![Richard Diebenkorn in his Hillcrest Road studio, Berkeley, California, in 1959]()
RA Exhibitions
6 years ago
Painting on the threshold: Ian McKeever RA on Diebenkorn and abstraction
As the Academy celebrates the American master, painter Ian McKeever RA explores Richard Diebenkorn’s profound inquiry into the nature of abstraction.
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![Ken Kiff, Woman Watching a Murder]()
RA Recommends
6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 27 February – 6 March
From a kayak at The Barbican to sex shop objects at Transition Gallery.
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![War Room 2015 by Cornelia Parker RA]()
Artists
6 years ago
Cornelia Parker’s poppies at the Whitworth
A survey of work by Cornelia Parker RA is the opening show at Manchester’s newly renovated Whitworth Gallery – featuring a room hung with the negatives from a poppy factory.
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![Art and politics illustration]()
Opinion
6 years ago
Should art be more political?
Should art have politics at the forefront of its agenda? Artist Bob and Roberta Smith RA and critic Kelly Grovier go head to head.
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![Sonia Delaunay, Electric Prisms]()
Opinion
6 years ago
Jennifer Durrant RA on the richness of Sonia Delaunay’s life and art
As Sonia Delaunay’s paintings, textiles and murals come to London, painter Jennifer Durrant RA explores her vibrant work.
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![Installation view of the Musée National Picasso-Paris]()
Opinion
6 years ago
A visit to the refurbished Musée National Picasso-Paris
Sarah Whitfield visits the newly refurbished château in Paris housing the world’s finest collection of Picasso, a tour de force in the City of Light.
-
![Newsha Tavakolian, Untitled]()
RA Recommends
6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 20 – 26 February
From sublime salt prints at Tate Britain to textile sculptures at the Hayward Gallery.
-
![Richard Long RA, Love Minus Zero/No Limit]()
RA Recommends
6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 13 – 19 February
From the scattered wild waters of Scotland to knick-knacks collected by artists.
-
![Two Huacos, found in the tomb of an Incan Nobleman from Chaplanca, Peru]()
RA Recommends
6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 6 – 12 February
From Peruvian Huacos and Japanese netsuke to the portraits of Marlene Dumas.
-
![Robert Motherwell, California]()
RA Recommends
6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 30 January – 5 February
From haunting paintings at David Zwirner to an assemblage of ideas and images at Victoria Miro.
-
![Tania Kovats, All the Sea (detail)]()
RA Recommends
6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 23 – 29 January
From Christian Marclay’s return to White Cube to progressive paintings by RA alumni.
-
![Adam Dant, The Budge Row Bibliotheque (detail i)]()
RA Recommends
> 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 19 - 25 January
Walk the RA Recommends tour or visit the one-stop-shop that is the London Art Fair.
-
![Michael Kidner, Column (no.2) in Front of its own Image]()
RA Recommends
> 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 12 - 18 January
From an abundance of abstraction across London to impressionistic cityscapes of New York.
-
![The Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, designed by Frank Gehry Hon RA]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
Bon voyage: Frank Gehry Hon RA’s new building
Behind the billowing sails of Frank Gehry Hon RA’s latest building in Paris lies a shifting cargo of contemporary art, says Hugh Pearman.
-
!['Butcher, Barber and Angler', 2009, by Nairy Baghramian]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
Inspirations: RA Schools students on their artistic heroes
As RA Schools students prepare to show their own work midway through their course in ‘Premiums’, some of the students select artists who inspire them.
-
![Diana Armfield RA]()
Artists
> 6 years ago
Diana Armfield RA on her art epiphany
As her husband’s health began to fail, painter Diana Armfield RA began to paint French and Italian scenes using sketches she had made during their travels.
-
![Kazimir Malevich and Lyubov Popova, Painterly Architectonic]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
Connecting 20th-century Scottish artists to a golden Russian cigarette case in six steps
Sam Phillips investigates the six degrees of separation between an Edinburgh garden and the influence of Pop art on Communist Russia.
-
![Paul Rosenberg in the office of his gallery in Rue La Boétie, Paris, in 1913]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
Two books on the modern art of Paris
A family memoir involving art dealers, Nazis and looted treasure is compared to a collection of 10 essays from the 1970s and ’80s reiussed in elegant format.
-
![Albert Irvin]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
Art sales at the RA: painting and printmaking
Painting and printmaking often feed into each other, as the first in a series of RA selling shows reveals.
-
![Peter Paul Rubens, The Garden of Love]()
RA Exhibitions
> 6 years ago
Baroque ‘n’ roll: Rubens and his enduring artistic legacy
From his battle scenes to royal portraits, landscapes and altarpieces, Rubens’s extraordinary output occupies a uniquely heroic position in the history of art. Waldemar Januszczak argues that art was one thing before him – and another thing after.
-
![William Blake, Newton]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
Alan Moore on William Blake’s contempt for Newton
As a major show of the revolutionary William Blake’s work opens in Oxford, Alan Moore, the legendary comic book author, delights in the artist’s subtle satire of Isaac Newton.
-
![Nye Thompson, Forensic reconstruction #00-23.7.6]()
RA Recommends
> 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 5 – 11 December
From William Blake in Oxford to ‘the next big thing’ in Manchester.
-
![Berlinde De Bruyckere, After Cripplewood I, 2013 - 2014]()
RA Recommends
> 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 28 November – 4 December
From drawings of light at the Science Museum to animals under threat at the Old Sorting Office.
-
![Installation view of 'Allen Jones RA'. Photo: Benedict Johnson.]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
When paint stripper was thrown over Allen Jones’s ‘Chair’
In 1986 paint stripper was thrown over Allen Jones’s sculpture ‘Chair’ (1969) during a Tate show. Alison Bracker talks to conservator Lyndsey Morgan about her experience restoring the work in the face of controversy.
-
![Chloe Dewe Matthews, From Shot at Dawn 2013]()
RA Recommends
> 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 21 - 27 November
From Maggi Hambling’s expressive paintings of waves to a presentation of the photography of conflict at Tate Modern.
-
![Illustration by Karolis Strautniekas]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
Is beauty an essential consideration in architecture?
Ron Arad RA and Sam Jacob discuss whether considerations of beauty are valuable in architecture, or whether they detract from more important issues.
-
![Installation view of 'Marlene Dumas: The Image as Burden' at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, from 6 Sep 2014 until 4 Jan 2015.]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
The mythical women of Marlene Dumas Hon RA
Marlene Dumas Hon RA’s paintings elevate women to mythic status. Here we celebrate the vision of a major artist as her powerful Amsterdam show comes to London.
-
![Phillip Dowson RA in his house in the south of France]()
Artists
> 6 years ago
An extract from the memoir of Philip Dowson PRA
A few years ago, Philip Dowson wrote and published a book of his memoirs, which he distributed only to his close family and friends. We have been given permission to republish an extract.
-
![David Titlow, Konrad Lars Hastings Titlow]()
RA Recommends
> 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 14 - 20 November
From Scandinavian scenes of nature and a 1980s take on Russian geometric shapes to prize-winning portrait photography.
-
![Leighton House Museum]()
Artists
> 6 years ago
Will Alsop RA on the architecture of Leighton House
In this article from the RA Magazine archive, architect Will Alsop discusses Leighton House, and what its architecture says about Frederick Leighton, the Royal Academy President who commissioned it.
-
![Lawrence Alma-Tadema RA, The Roses of Heliogabalus]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
Lord Leighton RA and the Victorian ideal of female beauty
The Mexico-based businessman Juan Antonio Pérez Simón has amassed one of the world’s greatest collections of art. He talks to us about his love of Victorian art as his 19th-century masterpieces visit Leighton House Museum, the home of the former RA President.
-
![Phaidon's 'Art in Time']()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
Our pick of art books for Christmas
Your essential festive gift guide.
-
![Juergen Teller, Gordon Ramsay, David Hockney and Allen Jones having lunch at Ramsay's Claridge's restaurant]()
Artists
> 6 years ago
When David Hockney, Allen Jones and Gordon Ramsay met for lunch
In an article from the RA Magazine archive, we find out what happened when two Academicians joined Gordon Ramsay at his Claridge’s restaurant.
-
![Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych]()
RA Recommends
> 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 7 – 13 November
From Post-Impressionist views of British Columbia to ground-breaking design from the RCA.
-
![William Blake’s cottage in in the seaside village of Felpham, West Sussex]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
Urgent appeal to save William Blake’s cottage
The country has until 28 November to donate, if the Blake Society is to transform his seaside cottage into a permanent home for the artist-poet.
-
![Allen Jones RA, Refrigerator (detail)]()
Artists
> 6 years ago
From the archive: The iconography of Allen Jones RA
Revisit this exploration of the meaning of Jones’s works, ahead of his first major retrospective in Burlington Gardens.
-
![Installation view of Gerhard Richter at Marian Goodman]()
RA Recommends
> 6 years ago
Frieze special: What not to miss this fortnight
RA Magazine’s Sam Phillips picks 20 of the best Frieze week openings and events.
-
![Installation view of Ciara Phillips's 'Things Shared', 2014, at Tate Britain]()
RA Recommends
> 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 3 – 9 October
From the Turner Prize shortlist at Tate Britain to the inaugural exhibition at White Rainbow Gallery, dedicated to Japanese art.
-
![C.R.W. Nevinson, Returning to the Trenches]()
RA Recommends
> 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 28 September - 2 October
From C.R.W. Nevinson’s images of the First World War at Osborne Samuel London, to a new body of work from Kai Althoff at Michael Werner.
-
![Studio Anselm Kiefer, Croissy, 2014]()
RA Exhibitions
> 6 years ago
Anselm’s alchemy
Throughout his career, the German artist Anselm Kiefer has confronted the weight of the past and the power of myth on a monumental scale. As the RA stages a major retrospective, Martin Gayford chronicles the extraordinary vision and transformative force of this colossus of contemporary art.
-
![Anselm Kiefer, Black Flakes]()
Artists
> 6 years ago
Through artists’ eyes
Three Royal Academicians – an architect, a sculptor and a painter – respond to memory, mystery and material in the work of Anselm Kiefer.
-
![What happens in the studio]()
RA Exhibitions
> 6 years ago
Allen Jones RA on display at the RA: Step this way
One of the key moments in modern British art occurred one day in 1965, when Allen Jones RA, then in his late 20s, first stepped inside an American casino. Kelly Grovier spotlights the Pop artist’s first step towards iconic status, as the Academy mounts a major show of his work.
-
![John Constable RA, A Windmill near Brighton]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
A breath of fresh air: Fred Cuming RA on Constable
Ahead of an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Fred Cuming RA pays tribute to his work, and his lasting influence.
-
![Cerith Wyn Evans, Installation view, Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London]()
RA Recommends
> 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 19 - 27 September
From fifteenth century China at the British Museum to Raqs Media Collective’s new exhibition at Frith Street Gallery.
-
![David Remfry RA, Alarmed Stiltwalkers]()
Artists
> 6 years ago
David Remfry RA on the major turning point in his practice
A remarkable look into how a chance encounter in 1988 liberated the Academician’s painting practice.
-
![Aristide Maillol, La Rivière]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
‘Beyond Limits’ at Chatsworth House
Academicians from Antony Gormley to Bill Woodrow are on display in Sotheby’s annual sculpture show at Chatsworth House.
-
![Frank Bowling RA, Traingone (Mahaicony Abary)]()
Artists
> 6 years ago
Black artists in British art
An insight into Eddie Chambers’s ‘Black Artists in British Art: A History from 1950 to the Present’, the first comprehensive study on the topic.
-
![New books]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
New books bring artists and writers together
A quick look at some of the new titles which draw on the connection between art and the written word.
-
![Pierre Huyghe, video still from 'IN. BORDER. DEEP.', Hauser & Wirth London, 2014]()
RA Recommends
> 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 5 – 11 September
From two very different exhibitions at Hauser & Wirth to coastline prints by Norman Ackroyd RA at Mall Galleries.
-
![JMW Turner, Rain, Steam, and Speed - The Great Western Railway]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
Connecting the English Romantic tradition with minimalist photography in six steps
Sam Phillips investigates the six degrees of separation between J.M.W. Turner RA and Hilla Becher’s architectural photography.
-
![Will Alsop RA in his Norfolk Studio]()
Artists
> 6 years ago
In the studio with Will Alsop RA
Known for his colourful urban buildings, the Academician also retreats to paint in his Norfolk studio.
-
![Rembrandt, The Sampling Officials of the Amsterdam Drapers’ Guild, known as ‘The Syndics’]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
Melvyn Bragg on his love of Rembrandt
As a major show of Rembrandt’s late works opens, Bragg considers the artist’s achievement as a consummate witness of life.
-
![Egon Schiele, Death and Maiden]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
Egon Schiele: The body electric
Although their erotic and existential angst once fell foul of public taste, Egon Schiele’s nudes have stood the test of time, argues Simon Wilson.
-
![Still from 'Ashes', 2014, by Steve McQueen]()
RA Recommends
> 6 years ago
Contemporary calendar: Autumn 2014
From recent works by Jasper Johns Hon RA to the Frieze Art Fair, we bring you ten essential London exhibition openings for your diary.
-
![Michael Sandle RA, A Twentieth Century Memorial]()
Artists
> 6 years ago
Michael Sandle RA on William Dalrymple’s book ‘Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan’
The Academician and sculptor finds history repeating itself on reading an illuminating analysis of Britain’s first Afghan war.
-
![Dmitri Baltermants, Stalin's funeral]()
RA Recommends
> 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 1 - 7 August
From the beginnings of colour photography in Russia to the powerful and poetic portraits of artist Celia Paul.
-
![Installation view of Charles Rennie Mackintosh at the Hunterian Museum]()
RA Recommends
> 6 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 25 - 31 July
From a survey of the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh at Glasgow’s Hunterian to the last days of shows from Sean Scully RA, Phyllida Barlow RA and more.
-
![Karla Black, Story of a Sensible Length]()
Opinion
> 6 years ago
Highlights from the Edinburgh Art Festival
With Edinburgh’s galleries and museums playing host to over 45 exhibitions this summer, here are our top picks of what not to miss.
-
![Zaha Hadid RA, The Peak Blue Slabs]()
Artists
> 6 years ago
Zaha Hadid RA on the influence of Malevich in her work
As a major Malevich show goes on view, Zaha Hadid RA reveals how her use of painting and drawing to develop buildings was inspired by the artist.
-
![John Singer Sargent, Gassed]()
RA Recommends
< 7 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 18 - 24 July
From marking the centenary of World War I at the Imperial War Museum to Salisbury Cathedral, where John Maine RA’s sculptures are set around the grounds.
-
![Paul Nash, We are Making a New World]()
Artists
< 7 years ago
Hughie O’Donoghue RA contemplates art of the First World War
As an exhibition honouring the British art of the First World War opens at the Imperial War Museum a century after its outbreak, the painter discusses the impact of these works.
-
![Barbara Rae RA, Painting from the series ‘Rebozo’]()
Artists
< 7 years ago
The fruits of Barbara Rae RA’s recent travels go on display
The vibrant colours and traditional textiles of Mexico have weaved their way into the painter’s recent ‘Rebozo’ series.
-
![Gerardo Dottori, Astral Rhythms]()
RA Recommends
< 7 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 11 - 17 July
From Dottori’s Futurist landscapes at the Estorick Collection to Raven Row, where dancers perform the pioneering works of Yvonne Rainer.
-
![, Ackroyd]()
Artists
< 7 years ago
Norman Ackroyd RA discusses his watercolours
A new book of Norman Ackroyd RA’s watercolours captures the immediacy of the moment, as the artist explains.
-
![Installation view of 'Mathew Tom: He Knows He Is Not Real']()
Artists
< 7 years ago
Mathew Tom & the RA Schools Starr Fellowship
Vivid colours are coupled with formal simplicity in the recent artworks exhibited by Mathew Tom in the RA Schools studios.
-
![Matteo Ricci , The Great Universal Geographic map]()
Opinion
< 7 years ago
‘Ming: The Golden Empire’ opens at National Museums Scotland
As two exhibitions looking at the Ming Empire open in the UK this summer, we look at the wealth of objects in store.
-
![, Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter - In the bathtub]()
RA Recommends
< 7 years ago
Our pick this week’s art events: 4 - 10 July
From a showcase of Mayfair galleries to the blurred lines of painting and photography by Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke.
-
![Minimaforms, Theodore Spyropoulos and Stephen Spyropoulos, Petting Zoo]()
RA Recommends
< 7 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 27 June - 3 July
From Quentin Blake’s whimsical illustrations to Matthew Barney’s surreal films.
-
![John Carter RA, On Either Side]()
RA Exhibitions
< 7 years ago
Intercontinental connections
Artist John Carter RA explains how his work resonates with Buenos Aires artists in ‘Radical Geometry’.
-
![Bridget Riley, Lilac Painting 2]()
Opinion
< 7 years ago
Bridget Riley at David Zwirner
An exhibition tracks Bridget Riley’s return to the stripe at key points in her career, writes Chris Fite-Wassilak.
-
![Chair of the Friends board of Trustees, Denise Wilson.]()
Inside the Academy
< 7 years ago
Your friend in high places
Chair of the Friends Board of Trustees Denise Wilson talks to Sam Phillips about her role at the Academy.
-
![Phillip King RA in his studio]()
Artists
< 7 years ago
In the studio with Phillip King PPRA
Fiona Maddocks meets sculptor and former RA President Phillip King in his studio in a converted north London factory.
-
![Fred Cuming RA, Walk on the Beach, Full Moon]()
RA Recommends
< 7 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 20 - 26 June
From the NPG’s annual BP Portrait Award to Academician Fred Cuming’s serene seascapes.
-
![Marina Abramovic, Rhythm 0]()
Opinion
< 7 years ago
Marina Abramovic: Three of the best
As Marina Abramovic Hon RA’s latest performance art piece opens, we spotlight key moments in her career.
-
![Gustav Matzger, Suportive]()
Opinion
< 7 years ago
Connecting 21st-century installation to 18th-century portrait sculpture in six steps
Simon Wilson investigates the six degrees of separation between Phyllida Barlow RA and Roubiliac’s portrait busts.
-
![Fiona Rae RA, See your world]()
Artists
< 7 years ago
Two artist couples display together this summer
Two Academicians take the rare step of showing alongside their partners this summer, reports Richard Cork.
-
![Franz West, Parrhesia]()
Opinion
< 7 years ago
Think pink: Franz West at The Hepworth Wakefield
The multiple meanings of West’s witty sculptures are unravelled at The Hepworth Wakefield this summer.
-
![Dennis Hopper, Paul Newman (detail)]()
RA Exhibitions
< 7 years ago
Dennis Hopper’s photography comes to the RA
Dennis Hopper was the epitome of 1960s American counter-culture. As an exhibition of the actor and director’s photographs comes to the RA, Jonathan Romney assesses this diverse body of work to reveal an astute chronicler of the art, celebrity and tense American politics of the period.
-
![Mondrian in his Paris studio in 1933 with Lozenge Composition with Four Yellow Lines, 1933 and Composition with Double Lines and Yellow, 1933.]()
Opinion
< 7 years ago
Mondrian squared
Two shows shine a new light on the Dutch modern master’s work.
-
![Joaquín Torres-García, Construction in White and Black]()
RA Exhibitions
< 7 years ago
Modern Art of South America comes to the RA
How does an art movement travel to a new continent? As the RA’s ‘Radical Geometry’ opens, Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro maps the cultural and political changes that were crucial to the development of abstraction in South America.
-
![From left: Daniel Lipp, Aimee Parrott, Brian Griffiths, Marisa J. Futernick, Ellen Macdonald and Julie Born Schwartz, Coco Crampton, Phyllida Barlow RA, Alex Clarke, Ariane Schick, Gabriel Stones, Alice Theobold, Alex Chase White (seated), Hannah Perry, P]()
RA Exhibitions
< 7 years ago
RA Schools students discuss their upcoming final show
As students from the RA Schools prepare for their final show, what are their feelings about leaving after three intensive years of study? Some of them discuss the issues they face with Schools tutor Brian Griffiths and Phyllida Barlow RA, who has been involved in art education for 45 years.
-
![Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Skiff (La Yole)]()
Opinion
< 7 years ago
Four major exhibitions with colour at their core open this summer
Simon Wilson surveys a slew of shows, in London, Liverpool and Margate, that reveal the changing roles colour has played in art history.
-
![An installation view of Stephen Chambers RA’s print, The Big Country, from his ‘Artist’s Laboratory’ show at the Academy in 2012.]()
Artists
< 7 years ago
Stephen Chambers RA’s ‘The Big Country’ travels to the Pera Museum
The RA is curating a major exhibition in Istanbul of prints and paintings by Stephen Chambers, including his giant screen print shown at the RA in 2012, writes Emma Hill.
-
![Conservators Graeme Gardiner and Karine Bovagnet check 'The Triumph of Julias Caesar: Musicians and Standard Bearers' ('The Musicians'), 1599, by Andrea Andreani, after Mantegna, now on display in the RA's 'Renaissance Impressions']()
RA Exhibitions
< 7 years ago
Looking good on paper
How does the RA ensure the works of art it borrows remain in exemplary condition? Eleanor Mills charts the conservation challenges of bringing the woodcut prints in ‘Renaissance Impressions’ to the UK.
-
![Bill Viola]()
Opinion
< 7 years ago
Inside Story: Bill Viola
The pioneering video artist talks to Laura Gascoigne about mystery, compassion and sacrifice in art, as the first of his two altarpieces commissioned by St Paul’s Cathedral goes on permanent display.
-
![Frederick William Elwell RA, The Royal Academy Selection and Hanging Committee]()
RA Exhibitions
< 7 years ago
Summer Exhibition 2014: Turning the tables
Can an establishment institution like the Royal Academy be a radical force? As this year’s Summer Exhibition focuses on an influx of newly elected Royal Academicians, Ben Luke puts the question to Members old and new.
-
![Installation view, 'Phyllida Barlow. Fifty Years of Drawings', Hauser & Wirth, London, England, 2014]()
RA Recommends
< 7 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 23 - 29 May
From Lucian Freud’s superb collection of Frank Auerbach works to a survey of recent American abstract art.
-
![Illustration by Maria Corte]()
Opinion
< 7 years ago
Should there be positive discrimination towards female artists?
Eileen Cooper RA and Helena Morrissey discuss whether art institutions need to prioritise women to achieve gender equality or whether positive discrimination is counter-productive.
-
![Kenneth Clark at his home in Saltwood Castle, Kent, in front of a painting by Renoir.]()
Opinion
< 7 years ago
Kenneth Clark: A return to Civilisation
The success of the art historian, particularly as a broadcaster, is more significant than ever, says Christopher Baker.
-
![Terry Setch RA walks in front of the cliffs of Penarth Beach in South Wales, where he gathers the materials for his paintings]()
Artists
< 7 years ago
Sam Phillips meets Terry Setch RA
Continuing our series on artists’ epiphanies, Sam Phillips visits the Welsh beach that transformed Setch’s art.
-
![Louis Kahn, National Assembly building in Dhaka (dusk), Bangladesh]()
Opinion
< 7 years ago
Louis Kahn at the Design Museum
Architect Trevor Dannatt RA pays tribute to Louis Kahn, whose poetic buildings are celebrated at London’s Design Museum.
-
![Richard Smith, Untitled II (Rose Pink Squares)]()
RA Recommends
< 7 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 16 - 22 May
From everyday design to the painterly abstraction of Richard Smith’s works on paper.
-
![Steven McRae and Laura Morera]()
Opinion
< 7 years ago
Walter Sickert on stage at the Royal Opera House
Liam Scarlett’s contemporary ballet ‘Sweet Violets’ puts Walter Sickert RA’s fascination with murder centre stage.
-
![Saskia Olde Wolbers, Yes, these Eyes are the Windows]()
RA Recommends
< 7 years ago
Our pick of this week’s art events: 2 - 8 May
From the latest Artangel commission to the history of British comics.
-
![A chiaroscuro woodcut made after 1620 by printmaker Willem Janssen, after Albrecht Dürer’s Rhinoceros, 1515]()
RA Exhibitions
7 years ago
Out of the shadows
As exceptional examples go on display in ‘Renaissance Impressions’, printmaker Anne Desmet RA reveals the story behind this pivotal development and discusses why these rare prints continue to dazzle us today.
-
![Mali Morris RA, Glide]()
Artists
7 years ago
Cutting it fine
As Tate Modern mounts a major show of Matisse’s cut-outs, painter Mali Morris RA pays tribute to the artist’s directness, inventiveness and exuberance
-
![Detail from 'Assembly of the Gods', 1720, at the RA]()
Inside the Academy
7 years ago
The genius of Kent
As the V&A explores the influential career of William Kent this season, we explore three works that testify to the abiding achievements of 18th-century Britain’s most versatile artist and designer.
-
![Tess Jaray RA]()
Artists
7 years ago
Between the lines
In the first of a new series on artists’ epiphanies, Tess Jaray RA reveals three turning points in her understanding of art.
-
![Tim Shaw RA, Casting a Dark Democracy]()
Artists
7 years ago
His dark materials
War, terror and human conflict pervade the art of new RA sculptor Tim Shaw, whose first major solo show opens in Birmingham.
-
![Grayson Perry RA, Right to Life]()
Opinion
7 years ago
The craft that is now art
Novelist Tracy Chevalier, who curates a new exhibition of quilts, argues that this traditional activity should be accepted as a contemporary art medium.
-
![Damien Hirst with 'Stripped (Instinctual) by Michael Joo (left), and 'Can't beat the feeling' by Banksy (right), both from his murderme collection]()
Opinion
7 years ago
Cool, calm and collected
Why do artists collect art? We posed the question to artist collectors Damien Hirst, Tom Phillips RA, Howard Hodgkin and Georg Baselitz Hon RA, whose chiaroscuro prints are included in the ‘Renaissance Impressions’ show at the Academy.
-
![20 Fenchurch Street, by Rafael Viñoly]()
Opinion
7 years ago
Icons or eyesores
Owen Hopkins tours the good, the bad and the ugly of City of London architecture.
-
![Seeing scents]()
RA Exhibitions
7 years ago
Seeing scents
Fragrance designer Jo Malone has a nose for architecture as well as scent, as we discovered on a visit Kengo Kuma’s aromatic installation in our ‘Sensing Spaces’ exhibition.
-
![Anselm Kiefer, For Paul Celan, Ash Flowers]()
Opinion
7 years ago
The hottest tickets for 2014
London plays host to some giants of the art world over the next year. The Chairman of the RA’s Exhibition Committee, Stephen Farthing RA, picks his top five upcoming shows and celebrates innovations born of great skill and maturity.
-
![Still from 'Will You Dance For Me', 2011, by Ori Gersht]()
Opinion
7 years ago
Lest we forget
Two new exhibitions of war art provide grave testament to the extent of human tragedy in world conflict.
-
![2001 A Space Odyssey]()
RA Exhibitions
> 7 years ago
Doors of perception
How do buildings make us feel? In the RA’s ‘Sensing Spaces’ exhibition, leading international architects build extraordinary new structures in the Academy’s galleries for visitors to explore. Jay Merrick responds to the ideas behind this groundbreaking project.
-
![Sensing Spaces]()
RA Exhibitions
> 7 years ago
Who’s who in Sensing Spaces
Introducing the architects taking part in ‘Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined’.
-
![Australia, installation shot]()
Artists
> 7 years ago
Fire and water
The RA’s Australia show has three rooms dedicated to Aboriginal art. Wally Caruna celebrates this rich vein of indigenous culture by exploring a key work in the show that evokes the ancestral origins of the great bush fire.
-
![Sean Scully RA]()
Artists
> 7 years ago
In the studio with Sean Scully RA
Sam Phillips meets Sean Scully RA in his Barcelona studio.
-
![David Mach RA]()
Artists
> 7 years ago
Out to lunch with David Mach RA
The RA speaks about how his love of large numbers influences his sculptures over a steak at Hawksmoor.
-
![El Anatsui, TSIATSIA - searching for connection]()
RA Exhibitions
< 8 years ago
Summer Exhibition 2013
Behind the scenes with this year’s co-ordinators Norman Ackroyd RA and Eva Jiricna RA.
-
![Keeper's house dining]()
Inside the Academy
< 8 years ago
Keeper’s House: Peyton’s Place
Oliver Peyton explains what he’s cooking up when Keeper’s House opens this Autumn.
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![The Royal Academy becomes the setting for Summer in February, starring, from left, Dan Stevens, Emily Browning, and Dominic Cooper as Alfred Munnings]()
Opinion
< 8 years ago
Archive: RA on set: ‘Summer in February’
If you like ‘Downton Abbey’, you’ll love ‘Summer in February’, starring Dominic Cooper as Alfred Munnings, future President of the Royal Academy.
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![Phyllida Barlow RA]()
Artists
< 8 years ago
In the studio with Phyllida Barlow RA
Meet the sculptor who chooses materials for their rawness and authenticity to create her haunting art.
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![Cornelia Parker RA]()
Artists
< 8 years ago
Out to lunch with Cornelia Parker RA
The Academician talks about the mix of violence and poetry in her work, as her often explosive art takes her across the globe.
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![Collectors Nicolai Frahm and Frank Cohen meet for coffee in Frahm’s flat in west London to discuss their John Armleder show. His 'Untitled', 2008, is on the wall]()
RA Recommends
8 years ago
Art collectors Frank Cohen and Nicolai Frahm on their new project
Take two art collectors, a disused milk depot in Bloomsbury and just add artists. Get a taste of what’s in store at the Dairy.
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![Chris Wilkinson RA]()
Artists
8 years ago
Out to lunch with Chris Wilkinson RA
The architect and Academician talks over lunch about searching for “the beautiful idea” when he designs a building.
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![Houghton Hall in Norfolk]()
Inside the Academy
8 years ago
Houghton Hall: Return journey
Sir Robert Walpole’s priceless 18th-century collection returns to Houghton Hall
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![George Bellows, New York]()
RA Exhibitions
8 years ago
George Bellows: New York knock-out
New York at the start of the 20th century was a hotbed of explosive urbanisation. The RA’s exhibition of Bellow’s work explores the idea of painting from raw experience.
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![Joe Tilson RA]()
Artists
8 years ago
In the studio with Joe Tilson RA
Fiona Maddocks meets painter and Academician Joe Tilson at his studio in a workers’ cottage in Chelsea.
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![Manet, Portraying Life]()
RA Exhibitions
8 years ago
Manet: Portraying Life
Known as a rebel, and a thorn in the side of the French Academy, Manet challenged the status quo through his portraiture, painting friends, family, and Parisian society.
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![David Batchelor, Magic Hour]()
Opinion
8 years ago
Preview: ‘Light Show’ at the Hayward Gallery
Look forward to an illuminating experience at the UK’s first survey show of light art.
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![Richard Wilson RA with his sculpture Slipstream at Heathrow's new Terminal 2 The Queen's Terminal.]()
Artists
> 8 years ago
Out to lunch with Richard Wilson RA
Over a sushi lunch, the sculptor and Academician talks about “getting away with” art that challenges our preconceptions of the world around us.
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![Images of paintings from the Chauvet Cave]()
Opinion
> 8 years ago
Preview: Ice Age at the British Museum
An exhibition of Ice Age art at the British Museum reveals the imagination and skills of Europe’s earliest artists.
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![John Constable RA, The Leaping Horse]()
RA Exhibitions
> 8 years ago
Constable, Gainsborough, Turner and the Making of Landscape
Tracing the emergence of landscape painting as a distinct genre in its own right.
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![Sir Peter Cook RA]()
Artists
> 8 years ago
In the studio with Peter Cook RA
The architect and Academician fills his London studio with a sense of fun, as Fiona Maddocks discovers.
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![Mali Morris]()
Artists
> 8 years ago
Out to lunch with Mali Morris RA
Redefining the best of British cuisine with the Academician, who herself is as a conjuror in the world of colour.
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![Anne Desmet RA in her studio in east London.]()
Artists
> 8 years ago
In the studio with Anne Desmet RA
Printmaker and Academician Anne Desmet discusses juggling work and family life in a studio at her east London house.
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![Timothy Hyman RA]()
Artists
> 8 years ago
In conversation with Timothy Hyman RA
As artist in residence at Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre, the Academician is a healing presence.
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![Bronze at the RA]()
RA Exhibitions
> 8 years ago
The Age of Bronze
Spanning over five millenia, the RA’s ambitious survey show places contemporary artists’ works alongside works dating back to the Bronze Age.
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![JMW Turner, Nude Girl and a Companion on a Bed]()
Opinion
< 9 years ago
Review & Comment: Books: ‘Turner’s Secret Sketches’ by Ian Warrell
Did Ruskin burn Turner’s clandestine drawings? Simon Wilson acclaims a revelatory new book on the works that seared the great critic’s soul.
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![Jenny Saville RA]()
Artists
< 9 years ago
In the studio with Jenny Saville RA
The Academician talks with us from her current studio in Oxford.
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![Ceramic work by Edmund de Waal in the RA Library]()
Opinion
< 9 years ago
Edmund de Waal discusses his exhibition at Waddesdon
The artist gives RA Magazine an exclusive video tour of highlights from the show.
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![Johan Zoffany, The Tribuna of the Uffizi]()
RA Exhibitions
9 years ago
Johan Zoffany: One to watch
A founding member of the RA as well as a wry observer and commentator on Georgian life, this is a first look at our exhibition of the work of Johan Zoffany.
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![Gillian Wearing RA]()
Artists
9 years ago
In the studio with Gillian Wearing RA
We speak to the painter in her minimalist studio in London’s East End, which is filled with an unexpected riot of colour.
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![Installation view of Gallery III, RA Summer Exhibition 2007, featuring David Hockney’s 'Bigger Trees near Warter']()
RA Exhibitions
9 years ago
David Hockney RA: A Bigger Picture
By using the latest technology to present nature on a vast scale, the Academician breaks new ground yet again.
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![Gary Hume RA]()
Artists
> 9 years ago
In the studio with Gary Hume RA
The Academician’s Clerkenwell studio is cool, white and ordered - but in it Hume is a warm, unpretentious presence.
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![Bryan Kneale RA]()
Artists
> 9 years ago
Out to lunch with Bryan Kneale RA
Over a seafood lunch, Sarah Greenberg admires the Academician’s steely resolve.
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![Stephen Cox RA]()
Artists
< 10 years ago
In the studio with Stephen Cox RA
The Academician has built his studio in a converted granary, in the Shropshire landscape made famous by A.E Housman.
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![Albert Irvin RA]()
Artists
> 10 years ago
In the studio with Albert Irvin RA
Evidence of Albert Irvin’s thirst for adventure on canvas can be seen in the east London studio he has occupied for over 30 years.
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![Will Alsop RA]()
Artists
> 10 years ago
Out to lunch with Will Alsop RA
The architect and Academician enthuses over a dish called Heaven and Earth, and tells us why fun is important in architecture.
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![Eric Parry RA]()
Artists
> 10 years ago
Out to lunch with Eric Parry RA
Over an Italian lunch, the architect and Academician discusses the influence of art and history on his designs.
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![John Carter RA]()
Artists
> 10 years ago
In the studio with John Carter RA
The quiet minimalist aesthetic of the Academician’s London studio has survived an extraordinary intrusion, he tells us.
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![Antony Gormley RA]()
Artists
< 11 years ago
In the studio with Antony Gormley RA
Get the vital statistics on the Academician’s studio, his work, and his relationship to the planet.
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![Anthony Green RA]()
Artists
< 11 years ago
Out to lunch with Anthony Green RA
A classic French bistro delights the Academician, who tells us why the future of the RA belongs to its Friends.
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![Barbara Rae RA]()
Artists
11 years ago
Out to lunch with Barbara Rae RA
Over a seafood lunch the Academician discusses why the world is her oyster when it comes to making her art.
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![Maurice Cockrill RA in the Keeper’s Studio, which is provided for him as Head of the Academy Schools.]()
Artists
12 years ago
In the studio with Maurice Cockrill RA
When Maurice Cockrill RA is not nurturing his charges at the RA Schools, he can be found hidden away in his splendid attic studio at the Academy.
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![Jennifer Durrant RA]()
Artists
> 12 years ago
In the studio with Jennifer Durrant RA
Jennifer Durrant RA’s studio is part of a big adventure she embarked on in 2000, when she left London to migrate south.
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![Michael Sandle RA in his studio]()
Artists
> 13 years ago
In the studio with Michael Sandle RA
Visiting with the sculptor in his new London studio, Fiona Maddocks finds him as full of sound and fury as his monumental work.
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Friends receive RA Magazine every three months, as well as enjoying free entry to all RA exhibitions, all day access to the lounges, restaurant, cocktail bar and garden of the Keeper’s House – and a whole host of other benefits.
![Friends in the Summer Exhibition 2017]()
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With a print run of over 105,000 copies, RA Magazine reaches a wide variety of art lovers. To advertise in RA Magazine please contact: Jane Grylls
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