Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers

Francis Seymour Haden: Old Chelsea (1867)

Hubert von Herkomer: The Spinners

Mansel Lewis: A Vagrant (1878)

Alphonse Legros: La Solitude

Joseph Pennell: The Rising Sun Tavern (1880)

Mansel Lewis: A Study (1878)

The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE) is a British artists' association of printmakers and engravers . The Society has existed since 1880 and is based in the Bankside Gallery at 48 Hopton Street in London , which is also home to the Royal Watercolor Society .

history

The Society was founded in 1880 by Francis Seymour Haden as the Society of Painter-Etchers to establish etching as a recognized art form. The founding members were Hubert von Herkomer , Alphonse Legros , James Tissot , Robert Macbeth and Heywood Hardy . James McNeill Whistler , originally also a member, had fallen out with his brother-in-law Haden and then withdrew his candidacy. On the initiative of Haden next was drypoint and Ätzradierung also the engraving ( Engraving ) as a gravure process considered and the Society called himself now Society of Painter-etcher and Engravers .

In 1888 the society was awarded the Royal Charter and from then on it was allowed to call itself the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers . In 1911, King George V granted a charter of the charter and statutes, so that the Society gained considerable reputation. From 1919 presidents of the Royal Academy of Arts were always elected honorary members of the society. In 1920 the membership was expanded to include artists who use materials other than metal for their prints. In 1991 the company adopted its current name.

membership

The society knows the following forms of membership:

Fellow (full member)
Associate (Associate Member)
Senior (senior member)
Honorary (honorary member)

Associate members have existed since 1887. They can put an ARE after their name, all others a RE.

President of the Society

The Society has had remarkably few presidents so far:

1880-1910: Sir Francis Seymour Haden
1910-1938: Sir Francis Job Short
1938-1962: Malcolm Osborne
1962-1970: Robert Austin
1970-1975: Paul Drury
1975-1989: Harry Eccleston
since 1989: Joseph Winkelmann

Known members

literature

Martin Hopkinson: No day without a line - The History of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers 1880-1999 . Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 1999, ISBN 1854441191
Francis Newbolt: The History of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers & Engravers 1880–1930 , The Print Collector's Club: Publication No. 9, London 1930.