Royal Hibernian Academy

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The Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) is an artist based and artist oriented institution in Ireland. It's first elected president was the landscape painter, William Ashford.

Founded in 1823, by the end of the nineteenth century the RHA was the leading Irish institution involved in promoting visual arts. However, in the middle of the twentieth century the RHA was seen as reactionary, hindering the development of modernism in Ireland and the Irish Exhibition of Living Art was founded 1943 to challenge the RHA's own exhibition policies. This has changed again, Louis le Brocquy one of the founders of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art is now a member of the Honorary Council of the Academy and the RHA's own mission statement states that it is dedicated to developing, affirming and challenging the public's appreciation and understanding of traditional and innovative approaches to the visual arts.

In 1814 an architect named Francis Johnston was made president of the Academy. He provided headquarters for the Academy at Academy House in Lower Abbey Street at his own expense^[1]. Academy House was destroyed by fire in 1916 during the Easter Rising. In 1970 it built a new building in Ely Place in Dublin, this building houses four galleries; here the Academy mounts the annual exhibition, an open submission art show which it has organized since 1826. In addition, the Academy curates frequent exhibitions and frequently is responsible for major retrospectives of the work of Irish artists. The Academy has a large collection of Irish art, but this is not on display.

The Academy is funded by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, through revenue from its Annual Exhibition, and from Benefactors, Patrons and Friends of the Academy.