The Royal Ulster Academy of Arts (RUA) is very much a part of the cultural life of Northern Ireland. Its annual exhibition, hosted for many years by the Ulster Museum, attracts hundreds of visitors keen to see artwork by practitioners from across Ireland, Britain and further afield that both please and challenge expectations.

The RUA began life in 1879 as 'The Belfast Ramblers' Sketching Club'. Founded by John Vinycomb (1883–1928) and 15 fellow graphic designers at the renowned Marcus Ward's Stationery Works in Belfast, it aimed to provide its members (all graduates of the Belfast School of Art) the opportunity to develop their compositional skills by sketching from nature and to exhibit their work.

Belfast Museum, Stranmillis Road Belfast

By 1890 the membership had expanded to over 100 artists (male and female, professional and amateur) and was renamed the Belfast Art Society to reflect its increasing ambitions. From 1905 to 1909, as a member of the Joint Art Committee – which comprised the Belfast Art Society, the Ulster Arts Club and the Ulster Institution of Architects – it lobbied for the foundation of a dedicated public art gallery in Belfast.

When the Belfast Museum & Art Gallery opened at Stranmillis in 1929 the collection included work by Society members – Charles Lamb's A Lough Neagh Fisherman and Hans Iten's Les capucines – as well as works purchased by subscriptions supported by the Society such as Sir William Orpen's Resting and Henri le Sidaner's Le gouter au jardin.

In 1930 the Belfast Arts Society became the Ulster Academy of Arts with elected Academicians, Associates and Sir John Lavery as Honorary President, a position he held until his death in 1941. George VI granted the royal prefix to the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts in 1950 as part of the upcoming celebrations for the 1951 Festival of Britain.

Lavery had already served as President of the Belfast Art Society (1919–1924) and had donated 35 of his works to the newly opened Belfast Museum & Art Gallery in 1929. This 'gift to the city' is acknowledged even today by the Ulster Museum, currently hosting the touring exhibition 'Lavery On Location' until 9th June 2024, before it moves to the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh in mid-July.

Committed to staging an annual exhibition of works by members and non-members, from 1930 the Ulster Academy of Arts also required its Academicians (and Associates since 1990) to 'present a representative Diploma Work to the Academy' – a donation still required today. The Diploma Collection reflects ongoing artistic developments in subject matter, style and technique, whilst also comprising an important visual record of life in Northern Ireland over the past century.

John Hunter's Quayside Festival and Desmond Turner's Prince's Dock, Belfast acknowledge Belfast's past ship-building industry whilst William Conor's Approaching the Start Gate and Kathleen Mackie's The Market hark back to a more rural life also exemplified in many early landscapes.

Frank McKelvey's delicate The Park, Hans Iten's The Passing of Winter, Kathleen Bridle's Trees and Bluebells and Romeo Toogood's Glenoe are contrasted with more recent interpretations of the land such as Clement Mc Aleer's colourful Allotment Shed, Paul Walls' heavily impastoed, monochromatic work The Big Pool or Keith Wilson's enigmatic Time to Think.

Traditional still life studies, such as Emily Corry's Primroses and Anne Primrose Jury's Flower Study, are balanced by Brian Ballard's memento mori Flower and Skull and Richard J. Croft's Still Life with Sweet Peas.

Sculptors are represented with bronzes like Carolyn Mulholland's Vigilance and F. E. McWilliam's surrealist Lady into Fish, Bob Sloan's quirky mixed media self-portrait Bob, Willie Heron's assemblage Chicken House and James Mac Keever's elegant ceramic figurine Sean.

Northern Ireland's turbulent past is also referenced – Robert Taylor Carson's G. I. and Poppy Mollan's Head of an American Soldier both date from the Second World War, while Orangeman in the Framework by Joseph McWilliams, Jack Pakenham's Walking the Sky and Threat of the Peace Strikes by Colin McGookin speak of more recent unrest.

From 1932 to 1972, the RUA offices and exhibition space were located on the top floor of the Old Museum in College Square North, in central Belfast, but due to the increase of civil disturbance, a decision was made to leave the premises. The Diploma Collection was relocated to a variety of safer locations until 2000 when it was regrouped and re-documented as a Millennium project by a team led by past president R. J. Croft (1997–2000) before going back into storage. Today the Collection can be viewed by appointment at the RUA offices at Alpha House, Rosemary Street, Belfast.

The RUA's current headquarters are temporary as, since 1973, the RUA has been itinerant with no permanent home, unlike its five royal academy counterparts in London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Bristol and Conwy. As past president Dr Denise Ferran (2015–2018) noted in 2009: 'What the Royal Ulster Academy now needs is an archangel patron like Michael Gallagher who funded the core building for the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1971...' – a heartfelt dream that is still unfulfilled.

The RUA may lag behind its sister academies in that respect, but in one groundbreaking area, it is streets ahead – since 1941 it has had six female presidents: Rosamund Praeger (1941–1943), Mercy Hunter (1975–1977), Carol Graham (2004–2007), Rita Duffy (2007–2009), Dr Denise Ferran (2015–2018) and Betty Brown (2018–2021).

The other five academies have only recently elected one woman each, and in 2020 all six were represented by a female president: Betty Brown of the Royal Ulster Academy, Rebecca Salter of the Royal Academy, Abigail O'Brien of the Royal Hibernian Academy, Joyce W. Cairns of the Royal Scottish Academy, Fiona Robinson of the Royal West of England Academy and Ann Lewis of the Royal Cambrian Academy.

The Royal Ulster Academy may be one of the youngest academies in Britain and Ireland, but it is a forward-looking organisation that continues to grow and evolve with vibrancy and imagination.

Amanda Croft, art historian and curator

Learn more about the Royal Ulster Academy, Belfast at RoyalUlsterAcademy.org

This story is supported by Crossland Tankers