GENRE PAINTINGS AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY of ARTS

Written by Latonya Craw Saturday, 04 June 2011 21:44

LONDON - This new display in the John Madejski Fine Rooms at the Royal Academy of Arts is a social commentary exploring the rich variety of paintings that reflect common themes of life from the 18^th to 20^th centuries. The exhibition consists of 34 pieces from the Academy’s own collection – most of which are Academicians’ Diploma Works and represent everyday life dating back to the 1770s. On exhibition until 7 December, 2008.

The exhibition includes works by former RA President, Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), and former RA Secretary, John Prescott Knight (1803-1881), as well as Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823), Sir George Clausen (1852-1944), William Powell Frith (1819-1909) and John Bellany (1942- ).

 The display starts with a collection of ‘fancy pictures’, which were popular in the 18^th century. The subject matter of these works was based on everyday life but had added elements of invention to produce attractive images, often of children in various guises. It continues into the 19^th century with scenes of simple rustic life, a type of genre painting that became immensely popular during the Victorian period. The display then moves on to work by artists who recorded life in foreign lands and those who, at the turn of the 19th century, engaged in the life of rural communities both in this country and abroad. The exhibition concludes with a series of paintings from the late 20th century which depict life in the city.

Aspects of childhood are also explored, from the innocence of Sir Henry Raeburn’s Boy and Rabbit, ca.1814, to the more wayward Gipsy Girl, 1794, by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Nostalgia for the simplicity of a rural way of life can be seen in William Redmore Bigg’s Cottagers, 1814, and Stanhope Forbes’s The Harbour Window, 1910.

The comedy value of rural figures was exploited in William Mulready’s scene of unrequited love, The Village Buffoon, 1816 and Charles West Cope’s intrepid group in The Night Alarm: The Advance!, 1871. Serious issues, such as the effects on the family of the search for work by younger sons, which was a common theme in Victorian painting, is referred to in John Prescott Knight’s The Parting Blessing, 1841 while the plight of unmarried mothers is touchingly explored in Richard Redgrave’s The Outcast, 1851.

Scenes of everyday life in foreign lands are also represented including J.F. Lewis’s jewel-like The Door of a Café in Cairo, 1865 and George Jones’s bustling city scene, Malines, 1867. Urban scenes by later 20th century painters investigate the isolation of living in large cities in works such as Carel Weight’s The Silence, 1965 while others celebrate the richness and variety of city life such as John Bellany’s The Pianist Entertains, 1987.

Exhibitions in the John Madejski Fine Rooms are rotated annually and display pieces from the Academy’s own collection. The collection is largely formed of Diploma Works - personal pieces donated by Academicians upon their election to the RA. This tradition was started by the first President of the Academy, Sir Joshua Reynolds, in order to build up the RA’s collection and is today as much about the history of the Academy as the pieces themselves.

For public information please print tel: 020 7300 8000 or Visit : www.royalacademy.org.uk