3 Review(s)

The popular Summer Exhibition has been an annual event since 1769. Today, around a thousand works are selected each year from over 10,000 entries, representing some 5,000 artists. The exhibition includes paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, architectural design and models and continues to be the largest open exhibition in the UK. The Royal Academy Illustrated, first published in the 1870s, presents the highlights of each year's show and is a fascinating barometer of changing artistic tastes. Around 180 works are illustrated, accompanied by installation shots of the galleries which reveal the individual nature of each year's show. These photographs, together with commentaries on the works by the exhibition co-ordinators, make this a handsome and informative souvenir of this most popular exhibition. The Royal Academy Illustrated is edited by a different Royal Academician each year.