This became an impetus for galleries and museums across the UK to celebrate "the making, debating and exhibiting art at the Royal Academy".
(meta data) TITLE: RA250 UK: 250 years of art and artists | Royal Academy of Arts We use cookies to improve your experience online. By using our website, you agree to the use of cookies as described in our cookies policy. Burlington Gardens Festival Photo: Benedict Johnson ## RA250 UK: 250 years of art and artists ### A celebratory programme across the UK ## RA250 UK: 250 years of art and artists Map of exhibitions and events Map of artworks by RAs ## Art galleries and museums across the country are joining us to celebrate 250 years of making, debating and exhibiting art at the Royal Academy. Discover the RA where you are. Celebrations for our 250th anniversary aren't limited to London. Arts institutions across the country are joining us to take a look back at our history, and celebrate the artists and architects who have shaped the RA – and many other galleries and museums in the UK. Take a look at the map below to find out what's happening near you; more exhibitions and events will be added throughout the year. ## Highlights of RA250 UK #### Exhibitions and displays Although the Royal Academy's home is in the heart of London, our Royal Academicians have come from far and wide. Their homes, studios, works of art, exhibition spaces and educational experiences can be found across the British Isles and beyond. Museums and galleries across the country will be shining a spotlight on their local Royal Academicians, from Barbara Rae at the Royal Scottish Academy to Sean Scully in Liverpool and Newcastle and Christopher Le Brun at Southampton City Art Gallery. You'll also find exhibitions on past RAs like Thomas Gainsborough or Annie Swynnerton, the first woman elected to join the Royal Academy, plus many more displays and events exploring different aspects of the RA past and present. See the map below for full details. #### In conversation with RAs Twelve in-conversation events with Royal Academicians, held in 12 different locations across 12 months. Created in collaboration with the Art Fund, this one-off series of events will include: Gilbert & George RA speaking at The New Art Gallery, Walsall on 19 September 2018 Cathie Pilkington RA at the Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, on 15 November 2018 Chantal Joffe RA and art historian Dorothy Price in conversation at the Manchester Art Gallery on 25 November 2019 Cathie Pilkington RA at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich on 7 February 2019 Jock McFayden RA at the Pier Art Centre, Orkney Alison Wilding RA at the Leeds Art Gallery Christopher Le Brun PRA at the Munnings Museum, Essex More information coming soon. #### Objects of Obsession Sonia Boyce, Bob and Roberta Smith and Cornelia Parker all met Artistic Director Tim Marlow to discuss their chosen object of obsession: a work of art by another artist that means something particularly special to them. Organised in collaboration with The Space, each event was held at a different art gallery and live-streamed to online audiences around the world. Watch the talks ## Find out what's happening near you Lead support ## Art UK ### Find works by Royal Academicians across the country Art UK, the online home for every public art collection in the UK, has updated its website to allow you to search almost 26,000 works listed by Royal Academicians through the ages. Visit Art UK and enter "Royal Academician" or the name of your chosen RA into the search bar to see where their work is located across the country. Search Art UK ## RA250 overseas ### Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 2 March – 3 June 2018 When the RA was established in 1768, it counted among its founder members artists from across Europe – and one from America. Born in Pennsylvania, Benjamin West went on to become the second President of the Royal Academy of Arts, and later, the first Honorary Academician of the newly established Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. This exhibition explores West's important role in the establishment of both Academies, through more than 60 paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, manuscripts, and books. Find out more ## RA250 overseas ### Accademia Nazionale di San Luca and the British School at Rome The Accademia Nazionale di San Luca and the British School at Rome are holding a conference titled The Roman Art World in the 18th Century and the Birth of the Art Academy in Britain. Exploring Italian influences on the formation of the British academic art world, the conference opens in Rome on the exact 250th anniversary of the Royal Academy's foundation, 10 December 2018. Download the programme ### Schedule exhibition When should this exhibition be published?
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Joshua Reynolds
Career.:Royal Academy.
Reynolds was one of the earliest members of the Royal Society of Arts, helped found the Society of Artists of Great Britain, and in 1768 became the first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, a position he was to hold until his death. In 1769, he was knighted by George III, only the second artist to be so honored.  His "Discourses", a series of lectures delivered at the Academy  between 1769 and 1790, are remembered for their sensitivity and perception. In one lecture he expressed the opinion that "invention, strictly speaking, is little more than a new combination of those images which have been previously gathered and deposited in the memory." William Jackson in his contemporary essays said of Reynolds ' there is much ingenuity and originality in all his academic discourses, replete with classical knowledge of his art, acute remarks on the works of others,  and general taste and discernment'. Reynolds and the Royal Academy received a mixed reception. Critics included William Blake who published the vitriolic "Annotations to Sir Joshua Reynolds' Discourses" in 1808. J. M. W. Turner and James Northcote were fervent acolytes: Turner requested he be laid to rest at Reynolds' side, and Northcote, who spent four years as Reynolds' pupil, wrote to his family "I know him thoroughly, and all his faults, I am sure, and yet almost worship him." 
 The Royal Academy of Art in London celebrated their 250th anniversary in 2018, since their opening in 1768.