The best artists don’t always get in, admits Royal Academy chief

 
Charles Saumarez Smith Pic:Rebecca Reid
3 October 2012

The Royal Academy has not always admitted the best artists of the day, its boss admits in a new history of the institution.

Star names such as Allan Ramsay, George Romney and architect Robert Adam were excluded when the academy was founded in 1768. Chief executive Charles Saumarez Smith said: “As nowadays there may have been professional jealousies at play.”

He added: “It is often the way with clubs that mediocre people are admitted while the character of the club is defined by the more distinguished people who are not.”

Dr Saumarez Smith said his history, The Company Of Artists, showed it was always “combustible” when strong-minded people came together.

He hopes to encourage wider public understanding of the academy. “Most people who come to a big exhibition think we’re a big exhibition venue but we’re more than that. We’re an art school and a representative institution for artists and we do an annual exhibition which is a way of showing the nature of contemporary practice,” he said.

The book coincides with the launch of a new exhibition, RA Now, for which more than 120 academicians including David Hockney, Tracey Emin and Grayson Perry have donated works.

The show runs from October 11 to November 11.

The pieces are to be sold to raise funds for the £40 million re-development of the rear of the Piccadilly building.

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