About the 2017 Summer Exhibition

The Summer Exhibition is an international open submission art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the summer months of June, July, and August. An estimate of 2,000,000 people will come to Burlington House to view this exhibition this summer. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, photography, sculpture, architectural designs and models, and is the world’s oldest and largest open juried exhibition currently celebrating its 249th year. When the Royal Academy was founded in 1768 one of its key objectives was to establish an annual exhibition, open to all artists of merit, which could be visited by the public. The first Summer Exhibition took place in 1769. it has been held every year since without exception.

Art Exhibited

Along with the selected work from this open juried process, approximately 400 additional works of art would be hung as part of the exhibition for a total number of pieces hung being 1200. These additional pieces would be work from members of the Royal Academy of Arts as well as invited internationally renowned artists. The work of an unknown artist that was selected through the open juried process could potentially be hung beside the work of an internationally acclaimed artist with the stature of a Jasper Johns or David Hockney. This dynamic makes this exhibition truly fascinating.

Submission Process

Artist works are initially submitted digitally. Any artist from around the world may submit up to two works for consideration. The total numbers of entries are limited to 12,000 works of art. The purchase of entries from the Royal Academy of Arts was available early January. With a purchase of an entry, this year’s submissions were due by February 15th 2017. From the initial digital submissions, a “shortlist” of selected work was announced by the Selection Committee on March 16th 2017 with a request for the “shortlisted” work to be delivered to the RA for further consideration.

Second Round

The judging of the “shortlisted” work was done at the RA. As seen in various YouTube videos, the process is fascinating and quick. The work is walked before the seated Selection Committee one by one and was quickly selected to continue for final judging or eliminated. The notification for this round went out on 5/18/2018.

Final Selection

The remaining work still under consideration was moved to the various galleries within the Academy. At that time, the “hangers”, responsible for a given gallery, would choose which work would actually hang on the walls of their respective galleries. Final selection is based solely on the merits of the work itself. The artist’s background (exhibition experience/education) are unknown by the Selection Committee. Final announcement of the work (approximately 800) that was selected to hang in the exhibition was made May 27th 2017.

In summary; of the 12,000 world-wide submissions made through the open process, only approximately 800 works were ultimately selected to hang on the gallery walls of the Royal Academy of Art. This is only a 6% chance that an artist would have his or her work actually selected to hang for the exhibition. Of the 800 works selected, there were only 58 works of photography that were selected to hang.

Email Notifications

It all boils down to three simple emails sent over a 2 month period. The waiting in-between emails was suspenseful for the artist.

Summer Exhibition 2017 – Notification Status
Sent: Thu 3/16/2017 7:18 AM

Dear Mel Talley

Thank you for submitting images of your artwork WHAT REMAINS.

The Members of the Selection Committee have given careful consideration to the images and request that you deliver your work to the Academy for the second round of judging.

Summer Exhibition 2017 – Notification Status
Sent: Thu 5/18/2017 9:54 AM

Dear Mel Talley,

Thank your for entering this year’s Summer Exhibition.  Your artwork WHAT REMAINS is still under consideration.

On 27 May you will receive further notification regarding the status of your entry.

Summer Exhibition 2017 – Notification of Status
Sent:  Sat 5/27/2017 7:55 AM

Dear Mel Talley,

I am pleased to inform you that your artwork WHAT REMAINS has been selected for this year’s exhibition.

“Varnishing Day” June 5th, 2017

Historically, artists would visit the galleries to add final touches to their work in situ. Today, Varnishing Day remains a part of the Summer tradition, but it’s now mostly a day to celebrate the artists in the show – if a slightly weird one. Before visiting the show, the artists gather in the courtyard, form a procession that would parade through Piccadilly led by a steel band, then attend an artists’ blessing at St. James’s church. After the service, the artists return to the Royal Academy to see their work for the first time. This was an “artist only” event and was held before the exhibition was opened to the public. One had to be in possession of the invitation to get through the doors. It was a “golden ticket” of sorts.

The powers to be were VERY serious about the rule that only exhibiting artists could go into the galleries. While Iris was able to take part in the outdoor activities of the Academy, the procession to St. James and attended the service; going up in the galleries was a different story. I thought they may give me a break and allow Iris to come in since we had flown in from the US. I was given tickets for the public opening but alas, we would be back home when that happened. I had gone by the Academy earlier in the day to pick up my invitation. The Director of the Exhibition herself came down to deliver my exhibition packet to me. I inquired about the possibility of Iris being allowed to come up and see the exhibition. She stated, with much hesitation, that “maybe” Iris would be allowed after the day’s event was over. I was not hopeful that it would happen. It felt strange to leave Iris outside as I went in. She was disappointed but understood. We are always together when I go to an art opening. After showing security the invitation, I walked in and looked around the exhibition and then it came to me. The invitations did not have an actual name on it. Security was just making sure that a person had one in-hand. Where we were at in Piccadilly, it was considered like 5th Ave in NYC and there were a lot of upscale stores. I called Iris and she was wondering around the various stores. I told her to come back to the Academy. When she got back, I gave her the invitation so she could go up and see the exhibition. I gave her directions to the gallery my work was at. She got by security just fine showing the invitation. She was actually able to see my piece up on the wall. She took the picture above of the woman looking at my work. We later met a couple from Wales while eating a snack in a small park. The guy was an exhibitor like me. His wife was disappointed she could not go up in the galleries. We told them the story of the invitation swap. He laughed and his wife said “why didn’t you think of that?”. Coincidently, our work was hung in the same gallery room.