The RA Collection, a gallery within the institution itself, is a bit of a secret. It’s completely free to visit and contains a variety of historical and contemporary artworks from the Royal Academy’s inception to the present day.
Image of the Artist is a small display of self-portraits by current and recent Royal Academicians. Here are the ones I found the most interesting.
Look at the confidence of this pastel self-portrait by Dame Paula Rego from 1994. The most worked on areas are the most important: her face and hand, the tools of her practice.
The red chalk drawing lying across her lap was an earlier idea, evidence of her thought process.
In Gillian Wearing‘s “Me as a Ghost” she is emerging theatrically from toxic-looking smoke. References are made to Birmingham, her birthplace and the West Midlands, the home of many British heavy metal bands.
It’s difficult to even see Hew Locke in this photograph, “Chevalier” from the series “How Do You Want Me?”.
The stance and context are aggressive and once you find the eyes it gets more terrifying.
“Life With the Lions” by Clare Woods is a complete contrast. She’s almost overwhelmed by her cat wrapped around her neck which took me a while to figure out. Is she stifled or comforted?
Chantal Joffe’s mother and daughter portrait, “Looking towards Bexhill”, has her daughter already looking away to life beyond her parent.
Whilst much of the collection is permanent (Michelangelo’s Tondo for example), temporary displays such as this one mean it’s worth popping in on a regular basis.