Royal Scottish Academy plans 200th anniversary celebrations

The Herald Scotland

27-05-2025

The academy was founded in 1826 as an independent artist-led organisation to support artists and architects and director Colin Greenslade said it remains true to that original vision.
He told the PA news agency the planned celebrations will highlight how the RSA has 'been the lifeblood of culture over that period'.
He added: 'The academy has had that continuous practice over 200 years with the same aims and with the same set up of a democratic organisation which is led by its artist and architect members.
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'The impact of the artists over that period – they've taught in art schools, they've taught in secondary schools, they've shown nationally and internationally, they've inspired generations of artists and architects that came after them.'
Mr Greenslade said artists providing opportunities for other artists is at the heart of what the RSA does, adding: 'It's unusual for an institution to be self-sufficient and for us that comes down to the trust and interest that people have given us over the years.'
Among the events planned are exhibitions throughout the year at Sabhal Mor Ostaig, the National Centre for Gaelic Language and Culture on Skye, featuring archive works including those from Peter Howson, Arthur Watson, Alexander Moffat and Frances Walker.
Shetland Museum & Archives will present an exhibition in collaboration with the National Library of Scotland examining 20th century poet Hugh MacDiarmid and how his time in Shetland had a profound influence on his work.
Aberdeen University will exhibit paintings by RSA artists, including Scottish Colourists, while the RSA's long-standing history with architecture will be spotlighted at the V&A Dundee.
Alexander Moffat's work The Rock (The Radical Road), part of the RSA's Diploma Collection (Image: RSA/PA Wire)
Among the events in Glasgow is an exhibition involving photographer Craig Easton, currently undertaking an RSA residency, at the city's Street Level Photoworks venue on his work documenting a beekeeper on the Isle of Colonsay.
A series of major exhibitions will also take place at the RSA's home at The Mound in Edinburgh and the National Galleries of Scotland will show a new body of work by a prominent RSA member whose identity will be revealed next year.
Events to mark the 200th year are taking place elsewhere in the UK including a show on the life and work of academy member Joan Eardley at The Granary Gallery in Berwick-upon-Tweed.
'It's the biggest project of this kind that anyone has ever undertaken across Scotland,' Mr Greenslade said.
'The ethos of this is to reinforce to the public in Scotland and visitors to Scotland is that the academy is throughout Scotland, it's not just this Edinburgh building on The Mound.'
He said 'people don't have to come to Edinburgh in the summer to see academy exhibitions' and the events will involve 'makers all over the country and in collections the length and breadth of the country'.