This exhibition celebrates the very best in contemporary portraiture nationally and internationally.

Unlike other portrait exhibitions, it is rigorously selected by professional portrait painters who themselves have been elected by their peers to the Society. You’ll see portraiture in all its guises; from its most public manifestation to its most intimate– all of it distinguished by excellence.

On the walls this year you will be able to see portraits of many well-known characters, including HM The Queen, Dame Judi Dench, Michael Eavis (founder of Glastonbury Festival), Sir Alan Parker (director of famous films Evita and Bugsy Malone among others), as well as Raymond Briggs (author and illustrator), Nick Park (director and animator) and Ed Watson (principal dancer).

Alongside this exhibition there will also be a special display of photographic portraits of our portrait artists in their studios taken by photographer Aliona Adrianova. This ties in with Mall Galleries’ In the Studio project.