The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts 150th Open Annual Exhibition Artists’ academies and institutions are not known for their radicalism. Most famously, the Impressionists were shunned from the Paris Salon and had to create their own alternative. Despite efforts to the contrary, it’s still all too easy to assume that such bodies are bastions of established tradition, with nary a nod to the avant garde. It wasn’t always thus. When the Salon rejected the Impressionists, it was already well over 200 years old, but in Glasgow, there was a new kid on the block. The Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts was founded in 1861 – exactly 150 years ago – as an alternative to the Edinburgh-centric Royal Scottish Academy. We know it now, with Queen Victoria’s subsequent stamp of approval, as the Royal Glasgow Institute (RGI). The Institute’s first open exhibition was a popular success, attracting a huge number of submissions. Most importantly it drew over 39,000 visitors – many of them on “working men’s tickets” – and although it barely made a profit, the annual show became an instant hit with ordinary Glasgow people. The Institute quickly struggled with its own success, taking on more staff to deal with abundant submissions, and badgering the council for more and more space at the Corporation Galleries, now the McLellan Galleries. But its popularity with the people ensured the exhibition’s annual return to the galleries until the Institution built its own premises on Sauchiehall Street (since burned down). Crucially, the Institute was about more than showing local art to local people. It was also about bringing the best art from abroad directly to its Glasgow audience; French, English and Dutch in particular. Private collectors were persuaded to lend their pictures; dealers to sell theirs; and famous artists such as Millais, Sargent, Whistler and Renoir could all be seen alongside their Scottish counterparts, both established and emerging. It was an exciting thing to be part of; Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed the show’s invitation in 1895. The Institute was quick to recognise the importance of the French Barbizon School, which in turn made a huge impact on the future Glasgow Boys. The Boys later played a leading role in the RGI, pushing it to the forefront of modern art in Scotland. These years were arguably the RGI’s most exciting yet, before the Great War intervened, and artists started to look for new ways to get together and promote their work. It’s been an uphill struggle for the RGI since then; the contemporary Glasgow art scene has become famous for its fluid, DIY attitude. But since 1965 the RGI has promoted new talent through the Kelly Gallery, and continues to offer artists of all backgrounds the chance to exhibit and win at its open exhibition every year. Today the Mitchell Library opens its doors on the RGI’s 150th annual exhibition. The largest open-submission show in Scotland, this year it received over 1000 submissions and selected over 300 works of art. Unusually, 16 out of the 22 prizes have been awarded to Glasgow-based artists, from Philip Reeves RSA PPRSW RGI RE, a distinguished printmaker still active at 80 years old, to first-time entrant Claire Forsyth, who to her amazement has won the £1000 David Cargill Award. “It’s been a really good catalyst,” says Forsyth, who has struggled to fit her own work around her job at Glasgow Print Studio. “Getting the reinforcement and encouragement of winning the prize has meant that I really do make it a priority now, to try and develop my work.” Forsyth plans to spend her prize money on travel and materials to make new work, “and maybe a haircut”. The young artist has a pragmatic view of the RGI’s place in Glasgow’s art scene. “Sometimes it’s not seen as the most contemporary,” she says, “but I think it’s very much an annual fixture in everybody’s minds, and I think people respect that traditional aspect of it, with very strong work being produced even if it’s not avant garde.” “I think it’s really important that places like the RGI stay strong to their identity,” Forsyth continues, “as a stalwart of the Glasgow art scene, and part of this huge tradition that’s incredibly important. But I think they definitely are making moves as well to look to more contemporary work, and there’s room for that as well.”
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