The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI), initially called the New Society of Painters in Water Colours, is one of the societies in the
Federation of British Artists
The Federation of British Artists (FBA) consists of nine art societies, and is based at Mall Galleries in London where the societies' Annual Exhibitions are held. The societies represent living artists working in the United Kingdom who create co ...
, based in the
Mall Galleries
Mall commonly refers to a:
* Shopping mall
* Strip mall
* Pedestrian street
* Esplanade
Mall or MALL may also refer to:
Places Shopping complexes
* The Mall (Sofia) (Tsarigradsko Mall), Sofia, Bulgaria
* The Mall, Patna, Patna, Bihar, India
* ...
in London.
History
In 1831 the society was founded as the ''New Society of Painters in Water Colours'', competing with the
Royal Watercolour Society
The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wa ...
(RWS), which had been founded in 1804. The founding members were
William Cowen
William Cowen (18 June 1791 – 29 January 1864) was an English landscape painter. His work includes views of towns in Yorkshire, Italy, France, Ireland and particularly Corsica.
Life
Cowen was born in Rotherham in 1791 and worked teaching dr ...
, James Fudge, Thomas Maisey (treasurer), O. F. Phillips, Joseph Powell (president),
W. B. S. Taylor, and
Thomas Charles Wageman. The New Society differed from the RWS in policy, by exhibiting non-members' work also. Both societies challenged the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
's refusal to accept the medium of
watercolour
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...
s as appropriate for serious art.
In 1839 Henry Warren (1794–1879) became president of the society and was re-elected for many years until he resigned due to failing eyesight. In 1863 there was a name change to the ''Institute of Painters in Water Colours''. In 1883 it acquired its own premises at
Piccadilly
Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Court, ...
, across the road from the Royal Academy. In 1885 it added "Royal" to its title by command of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
. When the lease to the Piccadilly premises ran out in 1970, it moved to the
Mall Galleries
Mall commonly refers to a:
* Shopping mall
* Strip mall
* Pedestrian street
* Esplanade
Mall or MALL may also refer to:
Places Shopping complexes
* The Mall (Sofia) (Tsarigradsko Mall), Sofia, Bulgaria
* The Mall, Patna, Patna, Bihar, India
* ...
, near to
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson commemo ...
.
Royal Institute Galleries
The premises at 190-195 Piccadilly hosted many exhibitions by other societies and were known simply as "Royal Institute Galleries".
It is now a grade II
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
. Number 195 is now home to
BAFTA.
Prominent members
*
Anna Airy
Anna Airy (6 June 1882 – 23 October 1964) was an English oil painter, pastel artist and etcher. She was one of the first women officially commissioned as a war artist and was recognised as one of the leading women artists of her generation.
...
*
Mike Bernard[member list, RI]
/ref>
*George Henry Boughton
George Henry Boughton (4 December 1833 – 19 January 1905) was an Anglo-American landscape and genre painter, illustrator and writer.
Life and work
Boughton was born in Norwich in Norfolk, England, the son of farmer William Boughton. The fam ...
[''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'']
* Henry Charles Brewer
Henry Charles Brewer (1866–1950) was a British painter well known in the first half of the 20th century for his watercolour landscapes and architectural paintings.
Family and early life
Born on 25 May 1866 in Wurzburg, Bavaria, Henry Charle ...
* Randolph Caldecott
Randolph Caldecott (; 22 March 1846 – 12 February 1886) was a British artist and illustrator, born in Chester. The Caldecott Medal was named in his honour. He exercised his art chiefly in book illustrations. His abilities as an artist were pro ...
*Princess Patricia of Connaught
Lady Victoria Patricia Helena Elizabeth Ramsay, (born Princess Patricia of Connaught; 17 March 1886 – 12 January 1974) was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Upon her marriage to Alexander Ramsay (Royal Navy officer), Alexander Ramsay, she re ...
[
*]Fanny Corbaux
Marie Françoise Catherine Doetger "Fanny" Corbaux (1812–1883) was a British painter and biblical commentator. She was also the inventor of kalsomine (calcimine), whitewash with added zinc oxide.
Life
Corbaux was born in Paris, the daughter o ...
*Walter Crane
Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and K ...
* Charles Dixon
*Sam Dodwell
Samuel William Dodwell RI (1909 in Wandsworth, London – 1990 in Truro) was an English painter.
Life and work
Sam Dodwell discovered painting at an early age and at the age of 18, while visiting Cornwall on holiday, decided that the county wo ...
* Lionel Edwards
*Bernard Walter Evans
Bernard Walter Evans (26 December 1843 – 26 February 1922) was a British landscape painter and watercolourist in the Romantic style, working mainly in Birmingham, Wales, London, Cannes and the North Riding of Yorkshire. Because he used a "h ...
* Emily Farmer[
*]Kate Greenaway
Catherine Greenaway (17 March 18466 November 1901) was an English Victorian artist and writer, known for her
children's book illustrations. She received her education in graphic design and art between 1858 and 1871 from the Finsbury School of ...
[
* Edward John Gregory
*]Louis Haghe
Louis Haghe (17 March 1806 – 9 March 1885) was a Belgian lithographer and watercolourist.
His father and grandfather had practised as architects. Training in his teens in watercolour painting, he found work in the relatively new art of lithog ...
[
* John Hassall][
* Eleanor Hughes
* William Knight Keeling
*]Sir Coutts Lindsay
Sir Coutts Lindsay, 2nd Baronet (2 February 1824 – 7 May 1913 Kingston upon Thames), was a British artist and watercolourist.
Life
Lindsay was the eldest son of Lieutenant-General James Lindsay (1793-1855), Sir James Lindsay, son of the H ...
* Sir James Linton
* John Seymour Lucas
*Fortunino Matania
Chevalier Fortunino Matania (16 April 1881 – 8 February 1963) was an Italian artist noted for his realistic portrayal of World War I trench warfare and of a wide range of historical subjects.
Life
Born in Naples, the son of artist Eduardo Mat ...
*Alfred Munnings
Sir Alfred James Munnings, (8 October 1878 – 17 July 1959) was known as one of England's finest painters of horses, and as an outspoken critic of Modernism. Engaged by Lord Beaverbrook's Canadian War Memorials Fund, he earned several prest ...
[
* Charles Robinson
* Frank O. Salisbury][
* Francis Job Short][
* William Simpson][
*]Julia Sorrell
Julia Sorrell (born 4 August 1955, in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex) is a British artist known for her portraits and imaginative drawings and paintings using figures and natural forms such as wood, shells, rock and plants using a range of media from pe ...
RI Members List
*John Tenniel
Sir John Tenniel (; 28 February 182025 February 1914)Johnson, Lewis (2003), "Tenniel, John", ''Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online'', Oxford University Press. Web. Retrieved 12 December 2016. was an English illustrator, graphic humorist and pol ...
[
* Arthur Wardle
* Edmund George Warren
*]John William Waterhouse
John William Waterhouse (6 April 184910 February 1917) was an English painter known for working first in the Academic style and for then embracing the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. His artworks were known for their dep ...
[
*]Harrison Weir
Harrison William Weir (5 May 18243 January 1906), known as "The Father of the Cat Fancy", was a British artist.
He organised the first cat show in England, at the Crystal Palace, London, in July 1871. He and his brother, John Jenner Weir, bo ...
*Leslie Arthur Wilcox
Leslie Arthur Wilcox, RI, RSMA (13 March 1904 – 11 January 1982) was an English artist known mainly for his marine works in oils. He was also a watercolourist, illustrator, poster artist, marine model-maker and author. He was for some ye ...
* Norman Wilkinson
*William Barnes Wollen
William Barnes Wollen (6 October 1857 – 28 March 1936) was an English painter mostly known for his paintings of battle and historical scenes and sporting events.
Career
Born in Leipzig on 6 October 1857, he was educated at University Col ...
*William Wyld
William Wyld (1806 in London – 25 December 1889 in Paris) was an English painter.
Life
Born to a family that had produced rich merchants for several generations, he gained a pronounced taste for drawing very young. On the death of a young ...
Honorary Members
* Sir James C Harris
* Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
Mall Galleries
{{Authority control
British artist groups and collectives
19th-century art groups
1831 establishments in the United Kingdom
British art
British contemporary art
Water
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
Watercolor societies