The annual Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in Burlington House, London, is a British institution. First held in 1769, the exhibition has taken place every year since without exception. The eclectic mix of paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, architectural designs and models continues to draw huge crowds during the summer months and is the most popular open art exhibition in the United Kingdom.
Initially, the exhibition was promoted by little more than printed notices bearing the Royal Arms and the dates of the show. But from the mid-1960s, the Academy decreed that each exhibition should have its own poster specially designed by a Royal Academician. This decision has resulted in a legacy of posters by some of Britain’s most famous artists.
For the first thirty years of the scheme, the posters were often a collaboration between the artist and renowned print maker Gordon House (of the Kelpra Press), who oversaw the layout and printing. Each design was originally printed in double crown format (30 x 20 inches), and some have been republished recently by the Royal Academy in a wider variety of sizes for sale in the gallery’s shop. The Academy has also published a superb book on the subject, Posters: A Century of Summer Exhibitions at the Royal Academy, written by Mark Pomeroy (2015).
The posters featured below are all original editions, printed at the stated date, and available to buy from Twentieth Century Posters. We only have one copy of each. Please click on an image for more details.
Edward Bawden, 1968
Edward Ardizzone, 1969
John Ward, 1972
Anthony Green, 1973
Betty Swanwick, 1974
Peter Blake, 1975
Eduardo Paolozzi, 1976
Hugh Casson, 1977
Donald Hamilton Fraser, 1978
Philip Sutton, 1980
Allen Jones, 1983
Paul Hogarth, 1986
Sonia Lawson, 1993
John Hoyland, 1997
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