The Discerning Eye 2016: Mall Galleries

Twenty five or so years ago a group of artists known as the Young British Artists - among them Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin - were creating shock waves in the art world. Their work was brash, irreverent and challenging.

 

Painter Michael Reynolds, a Rome Scholar and noted art historian, a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and a more traditional artist by far, thought much of the art of the time meretricious. He and a group of friends decided to champion 'domestic' art - works that were well executed, small in scale, accessible to all and, most importantly, could be bought and carried back from the gallery 'under arm' and hung in any home or office space'.

 

A charity was formed and in December 1990 The Discerning Eye held the first of its annual exhibitions to support and promote artists. Six individuals, each an expert in their area of the art world, were asked to select work submitted by artists in open submission. Only one limitation was set: works had to be no larger than twenty inches square.

 

The selectors were at the same time encouraged to invite artists they admired, many of whom were well known, to show, so giving the unknown artist the opportunity to hang alongside the known.

 

The responsibility then fell to both selector and visitor to apply a discerning eye in choosing or buying a work.

 

Michael Reynolds wrote at the time: 'The organisers had the hope that the unknown would mingle with the famous and be seen as no worse, that the public would ignore names and buy their choice, that at last there would be some representation of art to suit the domestic situation'.

 

Selectors for that first show were art collector and former Chairman of the Arts Council Lord Palumbo, art critic Brian Sewell, landscape painter and former President of the Royal Academy Sir Roger de Grey PPRA, gallery owner Odette Gilbert, artist and critic Giles Auty and artist and former President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters David Poole.

 

Unsurprisingly, there wasn't a pickled shark in sight.

 

Within a year or two of the launch of the Discerning Eye Michael Reynolds wrote that he thought the exhibition might be improved by including what he termed a 'lay selector'. As you will see from the list of past selectors elsewhere in this catalogue, the panels now invited to sit in judgement have been widened to include many household names: Big Brother presenter Davina McCall has found herself sitting alongside Royal Academy Chief Executive Charles Saumarez Smith, Sir Michael Parkinson next to Sir Peter Blake.

 

It could be said that the Mall Galleries, a short walk from Clarence House, is HRH The Prince of Wales' local art gallery. He has been a long term supporter of Discerning Eye, exhibiting his watercolours on three occasions, the first in 1991, opening the 1996 exhibition and serving as a selector the following year.

 

Some facts and figures from the last quarter century:
- Twenty five shows have been held since 1990. (No exhibition was held in 1993 or 1994)
- Around 50,000 works of art have passed through the selection process
- A total of 3,315 artists have exhibited
- Almost twelve thousand works (11,753 to be precise) have been hung
- Around £300,000 has been awarded as prizes to exhibiting artists
- More than £1,000,000 of art has been sold on behalf of artists

 

Michael Reynolds died in 2008 but is remembered by the Founder's Prize, first established by Brian Sewell, his friend and collaborator and strong DE advocate, who himself died last year. His work is held in the Discerning Eye Collection, of which a report by Chief Executive Tony Humphreys is carried elsewhere in this catalogue.

 

Tony has been for some twenty years the guiding force behind the charity and has championed many developments and initiatives. An untold number of artists owe him a debt of gratitude for his enthusiasm and backing.

 

Thanks must also go to this year's selectors who have wholeheartedly given their time and commitment to ensure that the 2016 Discerning Eye Exhibition is a success. Thanks, too, to the Mall Galleries, and Parker Harris, our exhibition organisers.

 

An undertaking such as the Discerning Eye annual exhibition is not possible without generous sponsorship and for the last eighteen of our twenty-five years that has come from ING Wholesale Banking.

 

As we celebrate our Silver Jubilee I offer the heartfelt thanks of the Directors of The Discerning Eye to ING for its staunch support.