For the First Time in Its 251-Year History, a Female Artist Will Be the President of the Royal Academy

Royal Academicians have voted
for the artist Rebecca Salter to be their new president. She
becomes the first woman to lead London’s Royal Academy of Arts in
its more than 250-year history.

Salter was announced last night
as the 27th president of the institution, an election that comes
with the Queen’s approval. The artist follows in the footsteps of
the likes of Joshua Reynolds, Benjamin West, and more recently
Christopher Le Brun, who stepped down in September after eight
years at the helm. 

“I am so honoured to have been
elected President of the Royal Academy. The RA is unique, a place
shaped by artists and architects,” Salter says of her appointment
in a statement. “Its exhibitions are world class and we teach the
artists of the future in the RA Schools,” she adds. Salter has been
the Keeper of the Royal Academy Schools, which offers free tuition
to postgraduates, for the past two years. Her rise has been rapid,
reflecting the esteem she is held in by her peers. She was elected
an Academician in 2014.

Following the recent expansion of the
RA to mark its 250th anniversary, Salter says it is a
“tremendously exciting time” to take the lead at the artist-and
architect-run institution. “I look forward to working with my
fellow Academicians, our staff, and our many supporters to help the
RA to evolve while keeping art, architecture, and debate at the
heart of what we do.”

The artist was chosen by her
fellow Academicians, who are all practicing artists and architects.
Among those celebrating her election last night were Yinka
Shonibare, Jane and Louise Wilson, Michael Craig-Martin, and
Grayson Perry, along with members of the RA staff. 

Salter will work closely with
its new chief executive, Axel Rüger, the former director of the Van
Gogh Museum in Amsterdam who returned to London this
summer.  Rüger
says in a statement that he is “delighted” with Salter’s election.
“With a long career as a respected artist, and an in-depth
knowledge of the Royal Academy through her position as Keeper,
Rebecca will bring a wealth of experience to the role. I look
forward to working with her,” Rüger says. 

Fundraising and overseeing an exhibition program that combines
scholarship and box-office appeal are constant challenges for an
institution that receives no core funding from the UK government.
The RA has to raise all of its income, unlike its peers the
National Gallery, Tate, and British Museum.

Salter, who has a lower profile
than some of her fellow Academicians, has exhibited in London and
internationally. She had a mid-career survey show at the Yale
Center for British Art, Connecticut, in 2011. Her work is in museum
collections including the Tate and the British Museum, as well as
at Yale. She has also worked on several architectural
commissions.

Salter studied at Bristol
Polytechnic in the West of England, and Kyoto City University of
the Arts in Japan, where she lived for six years and trained in
traditional Japanese woodblock printing. She taught printmaking at
Camberwell College of Art in London until 2016.

The post For the First Time in Its 251-Year History, a
Female Artist Will Be the President of the Royal Academy
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