Blue eyed boy at the Mall Galleries

Review: Royal Society of Portrait Painters – 121st Annual Exhibition

The 121st Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters has a particularly strong set of portraits which came via the open entry.Indeed this is an exhibition where 45% of the works exhibited came via the open entry – despite the fact that competition for a place in the exhibition is becoming more intense every year…. Speaking personally, I thought that portraits by non-members provided some of the more interesting portraits on display, even though most were typically smaller than the works by members which are on display.

… this is a very strong exhibition.  To my mind the quality of this year’s exhibition rivals that of the entries typically seen in the BP Portrait exhibition on the other side of Trafalgar Square.  Which is hardly surprising since the society’s members include a number of people who have won the BP or been finalists.