Royal Hibernian Academy
Encyclopedia
The Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, founded in Dublin in 1823.

History

The RHA was founded as the result of 30 Irish artists petitioning the government for a charter of incorporation. According to the letters patent of 5 August 1823, The Royal Hibernian Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture was established, which included a National School of Art. The first elected president was the landscape painter, William Ashford
William Ashford
William Ashford was an English landscape painter who worked exclusively in Ireland.Ashford was born in Birmingham, England in 1746 and arrived in Dublin, Ireland in 1764 at the age of eighteen. Within three years of his arrival, Ashford was exhibiting with the Society of Artists on William Street...

. In 1824 architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 Francis Johnston
Francis Johnston (architect)
See Francis Johnson for English architect of similar name.Francis Johnston was an Irish architect, best known for building the General Post Office on O’Connell Street, Dublin.-Life:...

 was made president. He had provided headquarters for the RHA at Academy House in Lower Abbey Street
Abbey Street
Abbey Street is located on Dublin's Northside and is one of the principal shopping streets of Dublin, running from the Customs House in the east to Capel Street in the west...

 at his own expense. The first exhibitions took place in May 1825 and were held annually from then on. To encourage interest in the arts works displayed at the RHA were distributed by lot as prizes among subscribers. Works by Frederick William Burton
Frederick William Burton
Sir Frederic William Burton RHA was an Irish painter born in Corofin, County Clare. He was the third director of the National Gallery, London.-Artistic career:...

, Daniel Maclise
Daniel Maclise
Daniel Maclise was an Irish history, literary and portrait painter, and illustrator, who worked for most of his life in London, England.-Early life:...

, J. M. W. Turner
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner RA was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting...

 and David Wilkie
David Wilkie (artist)
Sir David Wilkie was a Scottish painter.- Early life :Wilkie was the son of the parish minister of Cults in Fife. He developed a love for art at an early age. In 1799, after he had attended school at Pitlessie, Kettle and Cupar, his father reluctantly agreed to his becoming a painter...

, among others, were presented in this way. The exhibitions and school prospered and by the end of the 19th century the RHA was the leading Irish institution involved in promoting visual arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...

. Academy House was destroyed by fire in 1916 during the Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...

.

In the middle of the twentieth century the RHA was seen as reactionary, hindering the development of modernism in Ireland and the Irish Exhibition of Living Art was founded 1943 to challenge the RHA's own exhibition policies. This has changed again, Louis le Brocquy
Louis le Brocquy
Louis le Brocquy is an Irish painter born in Dublin. His work has received many accolades in a career that spans seventy years of creative practice...

 one of the founders of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art is now a member of the Honorary Council of the Academy and the RHA's own mission statement states that it is dedicated to developing, affirming and challenging the public's appreciation and understanding of traditional and innovative approaches to the visual arts.
In 1970 the RHA constructed a new building in Ely Place
Ely Place, Dublin
Ely Place is a street in central Dublin with Georgian architecture. It is a continuation of Upper Merrion Street and the place where Lower Baggot Street and Merrion Row meet. Both the latter and Hume Street link it to St...

 in Dublin. This building houses four galleries; here the Academy mounts the annual exhibition, an open submission art show which it has organized since 1826. In addition, the Academy curates frequent exhibitions and frequently is responsible for major retrospectives of the work of Irish artists. The Academy has a large collection of Irish art, but this is not on display.

The Academy is funded by An Chomhairle Ealaíon, the Arts Council of Ireland
Arts Council of Ireland
The Arts Council of Ireland was founded in 1951 by the Government of Ireland to encourage interest in Irish art and channel to funding from the state to Irish artists and arts organisations...

, through revenue from its Annual Exhibition, and from Benefactors, Patrons and Friends of the Academy.

On the weekend of 21–22 March 2009, an unknown person placed satirical naked paintings of Brian Cowen
Brian Cowen nude portraits controversy
Two oil paintings depicting Brian Cowen, then-Taoiseach of Ireland, in the nude, were briefly displayed in Dublin art galleries in March 2009 as an act of guerilla art...

 in the National Gallery of Ireland
National Gallery of Ireland
The National Gallery of Ireland houses the Irish national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street. It was founded in 1854 and opened its doors ten years later...

 and the gallery of the Royal Hibernian Academy. The painter was subsequently discovered to be Conor Casby. This caused some controversy at the time, as the matter was investigated by the Gardai
Garda Síochána
, more commonly referred to as the Gardaí , is the police force of Ireland. The service is headed by the Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Government. Its headquarters are located in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.- Terminology :...

, and the state broadcaster RTE
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...

was forced to apologise for showing the pictures in a news broadcast.
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