Opening this week The Royal Drawing School based in Shoreditch, London, will present The Drawing Year, a special exhibition showcasing more than 400 works by 28 students who have participated in the School’s scholarship course in 2023.
Drawing offers some of the most demanding opportunities for growth to a contemporary artist, both visually and intellectually, allowing a free transition between mediums. It is one of the simplest and yet the most endlessly complex of human activities, encompassing a wide scope of practice and interpretation.
Catherine Goodman, Founding Artistic Director and artist
To coincide with the exhibition, the winner of a new award, sponsored by Christie’s, will be announced. The Drawing Year is a postgraduate-level course which provides an opportunity for intensive practice and research in drawing from observation. Up to thirty students a year attend the fully funded course and are provided with a dedicated studio space. The Royal Drawing School started The Drawing Year, when the School was founded in 2000. It is unique in the spectrum of tertiary-level art education in the UK.
The Royal Drawing School was founded by HM King Charles III and artist, Catherine Goodman. It began with forty students in one drawing studio and now receives a thousand bookings across its programmes each week. Its education and public programmes range from daytime and evening courses for adults, remote online learning courses, Saturday classes and after school clubs for children and young people, to private tuition and live broadcast sessions from the School’s Shoreditch studios for an international participation audience.
It is my firm belief that drawing is one of the most direct ways of engaging with the world and that using the most limited means can lead to the most beautiful results. Furthermore, I am certain that drawing from observation is a central element of success across a broad scope of practice – from architecture, design, fashion and engineering, to film, animation and the wider creative industries.
In 2019, HRH The (then) Prince of Wales, Royal Founding Patron of the Royal Drawing School,
The Drawing Year 2023 exhibition offers a range of work, rich in observation, imagination and storytelling. The graduating artists come from a variety of backgrounds and creative disciplines, including painting, printmaking, animation, illustration, drama, architecture, fashion and textiles, art history, game design, philosophy and English literature. Featured artists include: kevin ATARI Abimiku, Jesse Ajilore, Honor Bathurst, Macsen Calvert, Caroline Cornelius, Oliver-Bijan Daryoush (aka ‘Bijan’), Alina Dieth, Ned Elliott, Tomas Folan-Hasici, Lucy Gogoliuk, Fabian Heckmatt, Oliver Hoffmeister, Eddie Howard, Cate Hueston, Alice Lockhart, Ellie Lonsdale, Juan Martin, Chi Park, Joshua Pell, Lilith Piper, Louis Pohl Koseda, Lily Snowden-Fine, Tess Tomassini, Dani Trew, Kate Walton, Ben Williams, Olly Williamson, Chengwei Xia.
The Christie’s Award will support a year of creative development and production, culminating in a solo exhibition at The Royal Drawing School. It is the first award in a three-year programme with Christie’s. The winner will be selected from The Drawing Year exhibition by the School’s External Assessment Board: Dr Xavier Bray, Director, The Wallace Collection; Rachel Campbell-Johnston, art critic, The Times; Thomas Dane, Director, Thomas Dane Gallery; Bharti Kher, artist; Rosa Loy, artist and Sydney Picasso, writer and researcher.
Investing in future talent is at the heart of our business and this new prize is the perfect platform to celebrate the students from the Royal Drawing School’s full-scholarship programme – The Drawing Year. We are extremely proud to support The Royal Drawing School’s mission of providing high quality observational drawing tuition to all, regardless of background or circumstance. The free fullyear postgraduate-level drawing programme is an inspiring offer within UK’s rich landscape of art education and we hope the new award adds to the incredible opportunity.
Anthea Peers, President of Christie’s EMEA, Christie’s
The Drawing Year 2023: 7th – 19th December 2023, The Royal Drawing School, 19 – 22 Charlotte Road, London EC2a 3SG royaldrawingschool.org
All works in will be for sale at prices ranging from £100 – £3000
