Royal Academy Summer exhibition posters

The annual Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in Burlington House, London, is a British institution. First held in 1769, the exhibition has taken place every year since without exception. The eclectic mix of paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, architectural designs and models continues to draw huge crowds during the summer months and is the most popular open art exhibition in the United Kingdom.

RA Summer Exhibition poster, 1960

Initially, the exhibition was promoted by little more than printed notices bearing the Royal Arms and the dates of the show. But from the mid-1960s, the Academy decreed that each exhibition should have its own poster specially designed by a Royal Academician. This decision has resulted in a legacy of posters by some of Britain’s most famous artists.

William Roberts, 1967

For the first thirty years of the scheme, the posters were often a collaboration between the artist and renowned print maker Gordon House (of the Kelpra Press), who oversaw the layout and printing. Each design was originally printed in double crown format (30 x 20 inches), and some have been republished recently by the Royal Academy in a wider variety of sizes for sale in the gallery’s shop. The Academy has also published a superb book on the subject, Posters: A Century of Summer Exhibitions at the Royal Academy, written by Mark Pomeroy (2015).

The posters featured below are some of my favourites from the last 50 years or so. Our full selection of original RA Summer Exhibition posters currently for sale can be viewed here.