Royal Society of Portrait Painters | Events Programme
- - Times vary | Mall Galleries
EVENTS PROGRAMME
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters presents a series of special events to complement the RP Annual Exhibition 2024:
Portrait Demonstration
Friday 10 May | 2pm to 4pm
Andrew James RP NEAC demonstrates his technique of applying oil to canvas using brushes and knives to transform isolated layers of colour into energetic depictions of his sitters.
Andrew is a highly sought after artist, who has worked on many prestigious commissions of public figures. Wonderfully passionate, he is renowned for capturing incredible likenesses of subjects through his sumptuously rigorous and painterly approach.
Free with admission, no booking required.
President's Tour
Thursday 16 May | 3:30pm
Explore the RP Annual Exhibition on a guided tour led by the Society's President, Anthony Connolly.
About the exhibition, Anthony says: "Having spent long hours reviewing the entries, several of the selectors commented on the extent to which the public is ceding to the personal. This may be a trend, or it might be an anomaly. There do seem, however, to be fewer institutional pictures in the show than one might have seen ten years ago and many more portraits which one could describe as intimate. The notion of the painted portrait is changing."
Free with admission, no booking required.
Panel Talk: 'The Political Portrait' & Prize-Giving
Thursday 16 May | 6pm to 8pm
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters presents a panel talk and prize-giving ceremony on the evening of 16 May.
6pm to 6:30pm
Explore the RP Annual Exhibition with a glass of wine on arrival
6:30pm to 7:30pm
The President of the Society, Anthony Connolly, will host a lively discussion on 'The Political Portrait' with panellists:
• Laura Freeman, chief art critic at The Times
• Saied Dai RP, artist
• Daniel Newsham, winner of the RP Critical Writing Prize for his essay 'The State and the Art'
• Patrick Kidd, diary editor for The Times
There will be time for questions from 7:15pm
7:30pm to 8pm
The panel talk will be followed by the prize-giving of the Society's two headline awards:
• The William Lock Portrait Prize: £20,000 for the most timeless portrait with a real feeling for paint and its aesthetic potential
• The Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture: £10,000 plus the Society's Gold Medal awarded for the most distinguished portrait in the Society's annual exhibition
This event is free, but booking is required.