Friends preview – ‘From Life’
8 December 2017 10am - 10pm9 December 2017 10am - 6pm10 December 2017 10am - 6pm
The Sackler Wing and Tennant Gallery
Free, booking required.
Friends of the RA book first
From Life
We invite Friends of the RA to join us for an exclusive preview of the ‘From Life ’ exhibition before it is open to the public.
Looking to the past, present and future of one of the cornerstones of artistic process, we ask what it means to make art from life, and how the practice is evolving as technology opens up new ways of making and seeing.
Drawing from casts and life models was long considered essential training for any aspiring artist, and was once a staple of the Royal Academy's own art school. Now, on the cusp of the RA's 250th anniversary, this innovative exhibition takes an inquisitive look at the tradition and its ongoing relationship with artists today.
Beginning with historic works drawn from the RA Collection, From Life will trace a line from the origins of the RA in the 18th century to the present day. Alongside a room devoted to Jeremy Deller's recent Iggy Pop Life Class, we will show contemporary work in diverse media by various artists including numerous Royal Academicians who continue to interrogate the practice of working from life, among them Jenny Saville, Chantal Joffe and Gillian Wearing.
Finally we will see how emerging technologies present artists with new ways to both observe and represent themselves and the world around them, opening up unexplored techniques and pushing back physical limitations. Through the work of artists like Antony Gormley and Jonathan Yeo, and architect Farshid Moussavi, we will offer a glimpse of possible future applications of virtual and augmented reality in the art of tomorrow.
Free, booking required.
Friends of the RA book first
From Life
250 free life-drawing experiences for 250 years
As part of our 250th anniversary celebrations, we are offering 250 people of all abilities the chance to follow in the footsteps of generations of great artists at free life drawing classes in the historic RA Schools Life Room. Each class will be for a particular group that has a special relationship with either the RA, drawing or the human body, from members of our outreach programmes to nurses and architects. Look out for online features and videos documenting this exciting project.
We are also inviting the public and Friends of the RA to participate through an open ballot to win 50 places at the following free classes, led by guest tutors who will be revealed on the day.
Friends class: 13 December 2017, 10.30am - 1.30pm
Public class: 24 January 2018, 10.30am – 1.30pm