The Royal academy is a London based art institute. The Royal Academy is responsible for running a post graduate art school and a research library. The art schools under the Royal Academy are one of the oldest art schools of the country. All the Royal academy art schools are based in Burlington House, Piccadilly. Every year the academy holds two exhibitions to display the works by the students.
History of the Royal academy:
Two leading architects of the Society of Artists, Sir William Chambers and James Paine, had a leadership dispute amongst themselves. James Paine emerged as the winner but Sir William Chambers was not happy.
In order to get his revenge Sir William Chambers used his connection with King George III to establish an independent artistic institute in 1768. The new academy launched in 1769 became known as the Royal Academy. The Royal academy had forty members involved in the founding of the institute. The first president of the Royal Academy was Sir Joshua Reynolds; Benjamin West was the second president. The Current President is Sir Nicholas Grimshaw.
Courses and Activities:
The Royal Academy offers full education in fine arts and architecture. The academy receives no financial support from the state or crown. The main revenue earner for the academy is the temporary art exhibitions hosted by the academy. The exhibitions hosted by the royal academy are comparable to those held at the National Gallery or the Tate Gallery. The Royal academy hosts an annual exhibition every summer which is a much publicized event. Many of the displayed pictures are for sale. In 2004 the academy got caught in a series of financial scandals and rumors because of a fall out between Rosenthal, the Exhibitions Secretary, and other staff. The feud attracted a lot of undesirable media attention and led to the cancellation of a profitable exhibition.
The Royal Academy offers full membership to eighty Academicians or RAs. All of them are required to be professionals in the field of arts. At any given time there are 14 sculptors, 12 architects, and 8 printmakers in the academy. The rest of the members consist of painters. Existing RAs select new Academicians.
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