The Great Spectacle

The Royal Academy s Summer Exhibition is the world s longest running annual display of contemporary art, and one of its largest. Ever since 1769 the Academy s exhibition rooms have been crowded for some two months each year with thousands of paintings and sculptures by many of Britain s leading artists. These spectacular displays have provided artists with crucial competition, inspiration and publicity, and captured the interest of millions of visitors.  The Great Spectacle takes the reader on a fascinating journey to tell the story of these exhibitions. Many treasured works of British art were first shown on the walls of the RA: portraits by Reynolds and Gainsborough, the mighty landscapes of Turner and Constable, and the Pre-Raphaelites, who caused such a critical and cultural furore. The chapter on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries will reveal the RA s relationship with British modernism, right up to the 2018 Summer Exhibition, which will be coordinated by Grayson Perry CBE RA.