Royal Society of Miniature Artists, Sculptors and Gravers Annual Exhibition 2025

View of the entrance to the RMS Annual Exhibition at the Bankside Gallery

The exhibition is:

• AT:
  The Bankside Gallery Thames Riverside, 48 Hopton Street, London SE1 9JH
• UNTIL: Saturday 22nd November 2025
• HOURS: 11am – 6pm

• anybody who is interested in miniature art – whether these are
  paintings, drawings or sculpture in a variety of media
• 
  all those art collectors who, like me, are fast running out of space for
  new artwork
  

You can see my photographs of the artwork displayed in the cases in a dedicated album Royal Society of Miniature Painters – Annual Exhibition 2025 (58 items) on my Making A Mark Facebook Page. Taken while the glass cover was still up, these provide a reasonable view of the artwork without compromising copyright.

Portraits by the late Bill Mundy (1936-2025)

Demonstrations

The RMS have always been excellent at providing demonstrations at their
exhibitions of the materials and techniques used to produce their
exquisitely small artworks. The remaining ones will be taking place between
12 and 5pm 

• there seem to be fewer landscapes – particularly those involving the countryside. Which is a pity as I am a great fan of those painted by Roz Pierson.  Maybe I could highlight that other exhibitions where I have analysed sales, I’ve also noted that landscapes sell extremely well as a subject!

Roz Pierson with most of her landscapes

The Cabinet containing about 50-60% of the 3D artwork

• The Three D artwork (for the sculptors bit of the society’s title) are becoming more and more varied – and adventurous – in terms of both subject matter and media. I’m particularly loving some of the more delicate works by Justine Kochansky using more fragile media – such as eggshells! I rather liked the Porcupine which employed cats whiskers!

Artwork produced using chicken eggs and quail eggs by Justina Kochansky. The one top right (facing away from the lens) involves two tiny magnets.

Mix of contemporary and traditional

I feel I’m seeing more emphasis on mixing both contemporary with traditional in subjects artist choose to paint. For many years, subject matter stayed pretty static – but as miniature artists contributing to the exhibition have got younger, the nature of the images they portray get more adventurous.

It is also a society which is active in promoting artwork by Young Artists – and this exhibition includes some impressive artwork by young artists in two age categories as well as a special Young Miniaturist Award.

This is a nice video by Raoof Haghihi – who I met at the exhibition, after not seeing for ages. He would have been a contender for the Gold Bowl if he hadn’t already won it. This is his VIDEO about the exhibition

RMS Awards

The Gold Memorial Bowl 

Images of some of the contenders for the Gold Memorial Award (Image by RMS)

The most prestigious award is the Gold Memoral Bowl which can only be
won once. 

This year Tabash and I were asked to judge and we chose The Changing Face
– Blooming 30’s (enamel on silver) by Chinese artist Jinghui Nie
@jinghui_enamel 

The Changing Face – Blooming 30’s (enamel on silver) by Chinese artist Jinghui Nie

This is what she had to say
on her instagram account for her enamel work

 

The Gold Bowl Honourable Mentions 

Artworks considered for the Gold Memorial Award – minus the egg which was too delicate to move As you can see the one that won was the smallest.

This is the artwork we considered for the top award. You can see their
relative size. Bear in mind that the MAXIMUM size of a miniature artwork
is a maximum exterior frame size of 6 by 4.5 inches (i.e. the artwork
has to be smaller).

The one top right was painted by Pauline Trim – who I know from her RHS
Gold Medals – and is called Winter Slumbers and will be added to my
wall of small works by RHS Gold Medallists!

The Gold Bowl Honourable Mention award winners are…

I’ve not been able to find a full list of the awards online.

However an instagram post indicated other Awards included the following – although I know there are even more

• President’s Special Commendation – Large work – Jenny Musker VPRMS MASF
  WFM TWASI HS MPSGS – A Rare Encounter
• President’s Special Commendation – Miniature work – Maria Bebusova –
  Creature of no Ocean
• The Bill Mundy Sovereign Memorial Portrait Award and Award for First
  Time Exhibitor – Fatima Dona Molinero – Face – The Lady of Helike
  @fatimadona_miniatures
• The Bidder and Bourne Sculptors and Gravers – Paul Eaton VPRMS MAA HS
  MASF MPSGS – The Reed Dance
  @sculpturebypauleaton
• RMS Group Award – Sponsored by Golden Bottle Trust – Tracy Hall RMS HS
  MAA
• Peter Charles Booth Memorial Award – Stephen Overy PVPRMS – Old Post
  Office Stanton
• Anita Emmerich Presentation Award – Anne Marie Walters ARMS – Girl Suri
  Tribe
  @annierack.nc30
• Anthony J Lester Art Critic Award – Penny Davis ARMS – Orpheus
  @pennydavisjewellery
• The Elizabeth Meek Award – Raoof Haghighi – Girl with Hello Kitty Tattoo
  @raoof.h
• Award for Innovation – Sponsored by Gold Bottle Trust – First – Jack
  Savage SRMS – I’m a Real Boy
  @jacksavart
• Joan Cornish Willies Award for Outstanding Traditional Miniature Oil
  Painting – from Paul Willies – Kayleigh Buttigieg ARMS – Origins
  @buttigieg.art

Artwork on a Theme 2025 – Sponsored by Ray Winder PRMS 

• The Changing Face and Award for Innovation – Sponsored by Gold Bottle
  Trust – Highly Commended – Marie Walters ARMS – Woman Mursi Tribe
  @annierack.nc30

Winner of The Young Artist Award (I failed to spot the closed eyes)

Points for RMS Consideration

I offered a couple of points for RMS to consider last year – and the glare on the glass covers of the display cabinets was being addressed this week before the exhibition opened.

So in that vein, I’m going to continue to push at an open door…..

The Catalogue

For an art society which is so focused on small sizes and in particular, the maximum size a miniature work of art can be, I’m somewhat surprised that the catalogue of very small artworks in the exhibition makes no reference to size. 

To me, in this context, size is as important as media and support materials

Lack of any online exhibition

I’ve got used to seeing art exhibitions online – in one way or another. However, there’s nothing on either the RMS website or the Bankside Gallery website.  In an age when many sales of artwork are online, it seems very odd to have an exhibition without any images online. Even if it’s just images of artwork in the cases.

I know miniature artists are more wary than most of having their artwork online. However I feel sure there must be a satisfactory solution for all concerned. 

I’m left wondering whether it would be worth employing a photographer to photograph the entire exhibition once it’s in the cases and then uploading those images – at a suitable size and dpi – to a website.

I find that very many collectors are now used to viewing online – before they decide to visit an exhibition and also buying online. Hence, more effort put into creating a digital image exhibition might pay dividends in the longer term.

The Group Award

While not taking anything away from the very high calibre work of this year’s winner (Tracy Hall), I do wonder whether the Group Award might focus more on exhibits which are presented as a group on a theme i.e. they are similar in size and format and subject matter.

To be able to develop a theme across five or six artworks takes some doing!  There were also a number of artists in the exhibition who had compiled their submissions along these lines.

REFERENCE

Website –
https://royal-miniature-society.org.uk/

Previous reviews of the annual exhibition