Royal Scottish Academy on the Mound, Edinburgh

The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

Scottish art Scottish art is the body of visual art made in what is now Scotland, or about Scottish subjects, since prehistoric times. It forms a distinctive tradition within European art, but the political union with England has led its partial subsumation ...

. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the Royal Scottish Academy on being granted a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...

in 1838. The RSA maintains a unique position in the country as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and architects to promote and support the creation, understanding, and enjoyment of

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

through exhibitions and related educational events.

Overview

In addition to a continuous programme of exhibitions, the RSA also administers scholarships, awards, and residencies for artists who live and work in Scotland. The RSA's historic collection of important artworks and an extensive archive of related material chronicling art and architecture in Scotland over the last 180 years are housed in the National Museums Collection Centre at Granton, and are available to researchers by appointment. Displays of the historic collections are mounted whenever possible. Its home since 1911 has been the Royal Scottish Academy Building on

The Mound The Mound is an artificial slope in central Edinburgh, Scotland, which connects Edinburgh's New Town, Edinburgh, New and Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Towns. It was formed by dumping around 1,501,000 cartloads of earth excavated from the foundations ...

, Princes Street,

, adjacent to the National Gallery of Scotland building. The building is managed by the National Galleries of Scotland but the 1910 Order grants the RSA permanent administration offices in the building. Exhibition space is shared throughout the year with the Scottish National Gallery and other organisations (Exhibiting Societies of Scottish Artists). The building, originally designed by

William Henry Playfair William Henry Playfair FRSE (15 July 1790 – 19 March 1857) was a prominent Scottish architect in the 19th century, who designed the Eastern, or Third, New Town and many of Edinburgh's neoclassical landmarks. Life Playfair was born on 15 ...

, was recently refurbished as part of the

Playfair Project The Scottish National Gallery (formerly the National Gallery of Scotland) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a Neoclassical architecture ...

and is now part of the Scottish National Gallery complex.

Academicians

The RSA is led by a body of eminent artist and architect members who encompass a broad cross-section of contemporary Scottish art. Members are known as ''Academicians'', and are entitled to use the

post-nominal Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...

letters RSA. The president uses the postnominal letters PRSA while in office, and PPRSA (Past President of the RSA) thereafter. Academicians are elected to the Academy by their peers. There are also Honorary Academicians (HRSA). After amendments to the Supplementary Charter in 2005, once Associates (ARSA) have submitted a Diploma work into the Permanent Collection of the RSA, they are then entitled to full membership of the Academy. The membership includes 30 Honorary Academicians and 104 Academicians. From 2010–12, the RSA President was Professor Bill Scott, Secretary Arthur Watson and Treasurer Professor Ian Howard. In 2018, Joyce W. Cairns was elected as the first female President in the history of the Academy. Current RSA President, Gareth Fisher is joined by Secretary Edward Summerton RSA and Treasurer Delia Baillie RSA.

Past Presidents

Notes

References

*Esme Gordon (1976) ''The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture & Architecture 1826-1976''. Edinburgh.

External links

The Royal Scottish Academy
{{Authority control 1826 establishments in Scotland Cultural infrastructure completed in 1826 Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh Archives in Scotland Arts organisations based in Scotland

Academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

Academies of arts

Art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...