The Royal Academy of Arts: History and Collections available to pre-order

The Paul Mellon Centre is delighted to announce the arrival of advance copies of The Royal Academy of Arts: History and Collections, edited by Robin Simon with MaryAnne Stevens.

Animated by an unprecedented study of its collections, this book tells the story of the Royal Academy of Arts, London, and illuminates the history of art in Britain over the last two and a half centuries. Thousands of paintings, sculptures, drawings and engravings, as well as silver, furniture, medals and historic photographs, make up this monumental collection, featured here in stunning illustrations, and including an array of little-studied works of art and other objects of the highest quality. The works of art complement an archive of 600,000 documents and the first library in Britain dedicated to the fine arts.

This fresh history reveals the central role of the Royal Academy in British national life and culture, especially during the nineteenth century. It also explores periods of turmoil in the twentieth century, when the Academy sought either to defy or to come to terms with modernism. The story is taken up to the present day in this readable and accessible book that challenges frequently held assumptions and offers a host of surprises.

This book is published in association with the Royal Academy of Arts and is available to pre-order here.

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