16 November 2012 – 3 January 2013
Open every day, 10am – 5.30pm; late opening till 8pm on Fridays
The Perfect Place to Grow: 175 Years of the Royal College of Art
provides a fascinating insight into the world’s oldest art and design
school in continuous operation, revealing the politics and polemics
behind the perennial question of how Britain should train artists and
designers, and interrogating the purpose of publicly funded art schools.
The exhibition features work by RCA faculty and alumni according to
four principal themes: ‘Art for Industry’; ‘Public Purpose’; ‘Personal
Expression’; and ‘Political Expression’.
Both student work and later professional achievements of such alumni
and faculty are represented, including: Gertrude Jekyll, Sir Edwin
Lutyens, Eric Ravilious, Edward Bawden, Hans Coper, Ossie Clark, Bill
Gibb, Zandra Rhodes, Sir James Dyson, Eric Parry, David Adjaye, Tord
Boontje, Ron Arad, Graphic Thought Facility and Neville Brody from the
broad disciplines of Design, Architecture and Applied Art; Lady
Elizabeth Butler, Dame Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore OM, David Hockney
OM, Bridget Riley, Eduardo Paolozzi, Tracey Emin (whose 2001 work The Perfect Place to Grow,
is both exhibited and referenced in the exhibition title), Chris Ofili,
George Shaw and Spartacus Chetywnd are represented from the field of
Fine Art in the sections on Personal and Political Expression.
For more information about RCA exhibitions and events, click here.
The series accompanies the major celebratory exhibition The Perfect Place to Grow: 175 Years of the Royal College of Art. This charts the College's history through a showcase of seminal work from alumni and students, past and present.
It is be accompanied by an in-house-published book featuring exploratory essays by luminaries including fashion critic Colin McDowell, historian Fiona MacCarthy, curator Robert Upstone, graphic design critic Rick Poynor, Andrew Wilson of Tate and Dr Glenn Adamson of the Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as the RCA’s Jane Pavitt, Paul Thompson and Joe Kerr.
- The first interview here, with Paul Thompson, explores how design at the College has grown from its public service roots to become a pioneer of an internationally recognised human-centred approach.
- Graphic design critic Rick Poynor recounts how the College contributed to some of graphic design's most defining moments here.
- Former Tate curator, director of the Fine Art Society and co-curator of The Perfect Place to Grow Robert Upstone explores how the RCA shook off its Victorian mindset and built connections for the Modernist era here.
- In the wake of media spotlight on the purpose and value of art colleges, design historian and RCA tutor Sarah Teasley explores the RCA's standpoint here.
- Buy The Perfect Place to Grow: 175 Years of the Royal College of Art here