General Assembly minutes, vol. 11
Volume of minutes of the General Assembly, including the following selected entries: confirmation of resolution to drop the word “Foreign” from the title of the class of Honorary Foreign Members, in favour of the term Honorary Academicians, 14 February 1933; confirmation of
Sir Reginald Blomfield’s motion of 5 December 1934, requiring a two-thirds majority in the final vote to confirm the election of an Associate, 12 February 1935; confirmation of resolution that women members be eligible for service on Royal Academy committees and that women Academicians serve on the Council by rotation [following the election of
Laura Knight as an Academician], 17 June 1936; minutes of discussion on Council’s report to the General Assembly on the Central Institute of Art and Design, 29 February – 12 March 1940; confirmation of resolution to raise the minimum number of Associates from 30 to 40, and to extend the class of engravers so as to include draughtsmen, 23 April 1942; confirmation of resolution to allow the election of the Keeper from Academicians and Associates, 11 December 1945; confirmation of resolution to set the number of Associates at a minimum of thirty and maximum of thirty-five, 4 July 1946; the decision to appoint
Sir Winston Churchill as Honorary Academician Extraordinary of the Royal Academy, with the same privileges as Honorary Academicians, 1 July 1948; confirmation of resolution that two Associates be appointed each year to the Council from those who had been members for at least three years, with some opposition from
Philip Connard and others, 1 November 1949; minutes of a meeting at which discussions took place about the relative powers of the Council and General Assembly, including
A. K. Lawrence’s resolution that a General Assembly should examine the artistic policy of the Royal Academy and the theory and practice of government of the Society, as well as hearing a statement from the Treasurer on the Royal Academy’s financial position; A. K. Lawrence’s further proposal that stenographers be present at the meeting to make a verbatim record;
Gilbert Ledward’s statement, with reference to the Council’s decision to hold the soirée that year without refreshments, that he had consulted
Lord Macmillan, Honorary Professor of Law, on the respective powers of the Council and General Assembly; and the statement of the President,
Sir Gerald Kelly, that he was aware he had displeased some members by measures he had advocated or taken after he had discovered the unsatisfactory state of the Academy’s finances, 11 December 1951; motion to obtain the special permission of
The Queen for the President,
Sir Albert Richardson, to receive a second year in office, despite reaching the age of seventy-five, 27 October 1955; A. K. Lawrence’s affirmation of the importance of television, and criticism of the Royal Academy’s alleged neglect of the medium, 6 December 1955; minutes of a discussion on the proposed introduction of a handling charge of 10s on each submission to the summer exhibition, which resulted in the immediate introduction of the charge, 8 January 1957; report of a discussion of the Royal Academy’s financial position, including the proposal of the President,
Sir Charles Wheeler, to omit the soirée in 1958, which
Sir William Russell Flint thought would be a public admission of bankruptcy, 4 February 1958; report of a discussion about photography and the visual arts, following the raising of a question on the subject by A. K. Lawrence, 5 January 1960; and minutes of the meeting at which the President, Sir Charles Wheeler, announced, in strict secrecy, that it had been decided, in view of the Royal Academy’s financial difficulties, that it was necessary to sell the cartoon of ‘The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist’, by
Leonardo, 20 February 1962 and further, 8 March – 13 November 1962, with reports of the remarks of a number of members, including Sir Gerald Kelly, who said that he would have preferred a straightforward sale at auction.