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ART SOCIETIES

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 702 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ART See also:SOCIETIES . In banding themselves into societies and associations artists have always been especially remarkable. The fundamental See also:motive of such leaguing together is apparent, for, by the See also:establishment of societies, it becomes possible for the working members of these to hold exhibitions and thereby to obtain some See also:compensation or See also:reward for their labours. With the growth of See also:artistic practice and public See also:interest, however, art societies have been instituted where this See also:primary See also:object is either absent or is allied to others of more See also:general See also:scope. The furtherance of a cult and the specializing of See also:work have also given rise to many new associations in See also:Great See also:Britain, besides the Royal See also:Academy (see ACADEMY, ROYAL). At the outset, therefore, it will be well to mention the leading art societies thus described. The (now Royal) Society of Painters in See also:Water See also:Colours, founded in 1804, and the (now Royal) Society of See also:British Artists (1823), are typical of those societies which exist merely for purposes of holding exhibitions and conferring diplomas of membership. The British Institution (for the encouragement of British artists) was started in 18o6 on a See also:plan formed by See also:Sir See also:Thomas See also:Bernard; and in the See also:gallery, erected by See also:Alderman See also:Boydell to exhibit the paintings executed for his edition of See also:Shakespeare, were from See also:time to time exhibited pictures by the old masters, deceased British artists and others, till 1867, when the See also:lease of the premises expired. A fund of £16,200, then in the 'hands of trustees, had accumulated to £24,610 in 1884. The Artists' Society, formed in 1830, has for its object the providing of facilities to enable its members to perfect themselves in their art. To this end there is a See also:good library of See also:works on art, and abundant opportunities are afforded for general study from the See also:life. In the furtherance of a cult the See also:Japan Society, devoted to the encouragement of the study of the arts and See also:industries of Japan, is a typical example; and the Society of See also:Mezzotint Engravers is representative of those bodies formed in the interests of particular See also:groups of workers.

One of the remarkable features in the See also:

history of art in Great Britain has been the rapid increase of the artistic See also:rank and See also:file. Taking the number of exhibitors at the See also:principal See also:London and provincial exhibitions, it is found that in the See also:period 1885-1900 the ranks were doubled. At the end of the 19th See also:century it was estimated that there were quite 7000 practising artists. Coincident with this astonishing development there has been a corresponding addition of new art societies and the enlargement of older bodies. For instance, the membership of the Royal Society of British Artists advanced in the period mentioned from 8o to 15o. Similar extensions can be noted in other societies, or in such a See also:case as that of the Royal See also:Institute of Painters in Water Colours, where the membership is limited to too, it is to be noticed that more space is given to the works of outsiders. But the expansion of older exhibiting societies has not proved sufficient. Portrait painters, pastellists, designers, miniaturists and See also:women artists have See also:felt the See also:necessity of forming See also:separate coteries. Interesting though these movements from within may be, the growth of societies originating in the spirit of See also:altruism associated with such names as See also:Ruskin and See also:Kyrle is equally instructive. Nearly all these are the products of the last See also:quarter of the 19th century, and include the See also:Sunday Society, which in 1896 secured the Sunday opening of the See also:national museums and galleries in the See also:metropolis. The specializing of study and work has also given rise to much artistic endeavour. For a See also:long time archaeology—British and Egyptian—claimed almost exclusive See also:attention.

Latterly the arts of See also:

India and Japan have engaged much See also:notice, and societies have been organized to further their study. Finally, bands of workers in particular branches of art have felt the need of clubbing together in See also:order to protect their See also:special interests. A slight suspicion of See also:trade-unionism is attached to some of these; but on the whole the establishment of such bodies as the Society of Illustrators, the Society of Designers, and the Society of Mezzotint Engravers has been with a view to advancing the public knowledge of the merits of these branches of artistic enterprise.

End of Article: ART SOCIETIES

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