With over 200 works on show this is a significant gathering of the best of recent portraits.
The work is in styles from photo-real to painterly, traditional to challenging and the sitters just as diverse being from citizens to celebrities.
The exhibition is formed by a cohort of work by our distinguished members enriched by about 100 works by non-member artists who compete to be exhibited.
Last year a £20,000 self-portrait competition ‘SELF’ was the special feature of the show, attracting entries from all over the world including the winning artist Jan Mikulka, who comes from Prague. The competition attracted artists of all ages with an age range of 17 to 81, the most common age being only twenty seven.
Charlotte Mullins, editor of Art Quarterly, and one of the SELF judges, said that it had been much harder than judging other art prizes. “With a self-portrait, it’s like you’re judging the person as well as the quality of the painting … it is almost as if the artist is working in reverse. They are still producing a likeness but they are working from the inside out.”
The 120 artists who exhibited alongside our 45 exhibiting Members were selected from a larger field than ever; 1,419 works were submitted for the open show and 946 for the SELF competition,totalling 2,365 portraits in all.
As always the exhibition was spangled with some familiar faces.
See portrait catalogues from past years
If you would like to buy a catalogue £8 + £3 Post and packing (for UK mainland) please ring 00 44 (0)20 7 930 6844 Monday to Friday 10am-5pm
If you would like us to keep you informed about our events please register with our web site (bottom right hand corner)
Image: ‘My son’ by Melissa Scott-Miller RP (Unfinished but it will be finished for the show)
The Mall Galleries
The Mall, by Trafalgar Square
London
- Private View:
- (By invitation only)
- Open to the Public:
- 8 May 2014
- Closes:
- 29th May
Nick Garrett 
