Adam Pearson 2024 portrait by Tim Benson RP
Portrait paintings have made the headlines this week, and you have just until tomorrow to catch a glimpse of an exhibition of many of the finest modern portraits, including a specially commissioned work of Croydon actor Adam Pearson.
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ Annual Exhibition is in its 133rd year, and is open until Saturday, May 18, at the The Mall Galleries (home to the Federation of British Artists, a visual arts charity supporting artists since 1961).
The exhibition is unique in that its collection of painted and drawn portraits, from a national and international submission, is selected not by the art establishment, by celebrities or media moguls, but by world-renowned professional portrait painters.
With peer-reviewed paintings chosen through the discerning eye and instinctive sensitivity of other artists, “the exhibition arguably showcases the very best painted portraits in Europe – both by established portraiture artists and by the most exciting up-and-coming talent,” the organisers say.
“It is one of the world’s greatest forums for portraiture featuring a broad collection of stylistic and intellectual approaches.”
With much of the work shown available for sale, and with exhibiting portrait painters available for commission through the society’s Portrait Commission service, the show also presents an opportunity to buy portrait masterpieces of the future.
The exhibition features around 230 beautiful painted portraits which have been expertly curated by artist members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.
Selection for the RP’s Annual Exhibition is highly prized, exhibiting artists are in the running for awards worth £40,000, with artists submitting portraits from across the world.
The William Lock Portrait Prize will see one artist win £20,000 for the most timeless portrait with a real feeling for paint and its aesthetic potential.
Anthony Connolly, the president of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, said, “No year is ever the same but there is something reassuringly constant about the RP show.
“Don’t conflate constancy with anything ordinary, however. You will see fresh and sometimes surprising work by painters you know well, and you’ll see portraits by artists who are new to you. The RP Annual Exhibition is, more than ever, a welcoming space for both established and emerging talent.”
Visitors to the exhibition can buy many of the portraits on display (both in person and online) and can commission their own.
Among the subjects of the portraits on display is former Prime Minister Theresa May (painted by Saied Dai), former England cricket captain Alastair Cook, which was unveiled at the exhibition, actor Benedict Cumberbatch, playwright Christopher Hampton and a portrait of one of the last surviving veterans of the Gloucestershire Regiment who fought at the Battle of Imjin River during the Korean War.
Portrait of the artist: painter Tim Benson with Adam Pearson at the Mall Galleries
Addiscombe resident Pearson is a well-known figure who has the condition neurofibromatosis.
He has worked both behind the scenes and in front of the camera in numerous campaigning television programmes, and MasterChef, and has also acted in various roles, including in the 2013 movie Under The Skin, cast alongside Scarlett Johansson.
He has said that he hoped the role would challenge disfigurement stigma.
Artist Tim Benson is a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters who works as portraiture tutor at the Royal Academy of Arts. He specialises figurative and landscape work. “As well as working on commissioned pieces, I seek to tell the stories of people around the world whose voices are rarely heard,” Benson says.
“Painted portraits speak to people in a way that the written word and photography cannot,” he says, adding that his portraits “engage people build awareness through painting”.
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ 133rd Annual Exhibition runs until Saturday May 18, 10am to 5pm at Mall Galleries, The Mall, London SW1. Entry is £5, Free for Friends of Mall Galleries and under-25s. Concessions available
The exhibition will also be available to be viewed online at https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/ where work can also be purchased.
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