For 200 years, we’ve been collecting, preserving and celebrating the work of artists and architects connected to Scotland. From the Academy’s founding in 1826 to the present day, the RSA Collection has grown alongside the changing landscape of Scottish art.
Today, the collection holds more than 11,000 artworks, alongside an extensive archive and library. At its heart is the Diploma Collection, which has been built through Academicians presenting a work to the Academy following their election.
To coincide with 200 Years, our current exhibition celebrating two centuries of Scottish art, we’re taking a journey through the RSA Collection. We’ve selected two works from each decade that were acquired by the Academy at the time to reflect on the work, people and ideas that have shaped the RSA.
1926 – 1936
Katharine Cameron, Entrance to Glencoe, c.1935
Acquisition: Purchase, David Muirhead Memorial Fund, 1935
The sister of D Y Cameron RSA, Katharine Cameron was one of the Glasgow Girls. She was renowned for her watercolour paintings and capturing the effects of light on the landscape.
Sir John Lavery RSA, Stephen Donoghue in the King's Colours, c.1923-25
Acquisition: Purchase, Thorburn Ross Memorial Fund, 1929
John Lavery was sent to Scotland from Ireland to live with relatives in Saltcoats when he was just 10 years old. He taught himself art by sketching on the streets of Glasgow and became one of the country’s most famous portrait painters. He wrote of Donoghue: ‘Steve Donoghue came to sit in the King's colours...No one could have been more considerate or helpful as a sitter.’
1936 – 1946
Phoebe Anna Traquair HRSA, The House of Life, c.1903
Acquisition: Phoebe Anna Traquair HRSA bequest, 1936
The imagery of the central panel replicates in enamel Traquair's original watercolour illustration to her book 'The House of Life' in the National Library of Scotland. Traquair worked across media and her murals in the Mansfield Traquair Centre have seen it referred to as the Sistine Chapel of Edinburgh.
Stanley Cursiter RSA, Surf, 1937
Acquisition: RSA Diploma Collection Deposit, 1938
Since it was established, every Keeper, Curator or Director of the National Gallery was an Academician until Stanley Cursiter retired as Director in 1948. Perhaps the most famous Orcadian painter, this view is likely of the sea near Cursiter’s famous painting shack at Yesnaby in Orkney.
1946 – 1956
James Cowie RSA, Transparencies, c.1947 – 1954
Acquisition: Purchase, David Muirhead Memorial Fund, 1954
Joan Eardley RSA, Corrie, c.1950
Acquisition: Purchase, Thorburn Ross Memorial Fund, 1950
When you think of Joan Eardley you probably picture her iconic Glasgow portraits of children or her wild Catterline landscapes. This early view of Corrie was purchased for the collections from the 1950 Annual Exhibition and shows the promise the RSA saw in this exciting young Scottish artist.
1956 – 1966
Anne Redpath RSA, In the Chapel of St Jean, Treboul, c.1954
Acquisition: RSA Diploma Collection Deposit, 1956
Anne Redpath was the first female painter to be elected a full Academician in 1952. Her influence on the medium in Scotland is as significant as that of her friend and peer Sir William Gillies.
Hugh Adam Crawford RSA, Sleeping Cat, c.1965
Acquisition: RSA Diploma Collection Deposit, 1965
Like portraits, pets feature regularly in the RSA collections. In Elizabeth Blackadder’s Diploma Work the cat gazes out at the viewer, while here it peacefully anchors Crawford’s lively semi-abstract composition.
1966 – 1976
Jack Knox RSA, San Romano, 1968
Acquisition: Purchase, Thomas and Christina Forbes Hutchison Memorial Fund, 1969
Willie Rodger RSA, Brighton November, 1972
Acquisition: Purchase, David Muirhead Memorial Fund, 1972
In 1989, along with Beth Fisher, Willie Rodger was the first artist to be elected to the RSA as a printmaker, after the constitution was changed to officially recognise the discipline. Rodger is recognised as one of Scotland’s master printmakers of the late twentieth century. Brighton, November is a relief print made after a spell as Artist in Residence at Sussex University in 1971. It was printed from wood, lino and embossed wallpaper.
1976 – 1986
Dorothy Johnstone ARSA, Marguerite, 1912
Acquisition: Dorothy Johnstone ARSA bequest, 1980
This beautiful portrait of the artist's younger sister Rona aged about 9 was painted in John Duncan's studio at Torphichen Street, Edinburgh.
Anthony Wheeler PPRSA, Architectural Drawings and Photographs, 1979
Acquisition: RSA Diploma Collection Deposit, 1980
This piece is a composite work and comprises drawings and photographs of several projects that date from the nineteen sixties through to the nineteen seventies. It shows how architectural Diploma Works began to change as the media of photography was increasingly used.
1986 – 1996
Ian McKenzie Smith RSA, After Rain (Tarashikomi)
Acquisition: Gift from the Friends of the RSA, 1987
Andrew Cranston RSA, Perugia, 1993
Acquisition: RSA John Kinross Scholarship, 1994
The John Kinross Scholarship is one of the largest and longest running awards for emerging artists in Scotland. It provides funding for around 3 months stay in Florence, allowing artists time to develop their practice. On return, they deposit work with the collections and since the 1980s this collection has become significant as a marker of emerging artists’ work.
1996 – 2006
Robin Philipson PPRSA, Stone the Crows, c.1964-65
Acquisition: The Scottish Arts Council bequest, 1997
Frances Walker RSA, Rock Pool Cleft, 1994–95
Acquisition: Purchase, David Muirhead Memorial Fund, 1998
Frances Walker is recognised as one of Scotland’s most important landscape artists of the last fifty years. She is the RSA’s longest serving living Academician and her role and influence is deeply embedded in Scotland’s recent painting and printmaking heritage.
2006 – 2016
Kathryn Findlay RSA, Model for Art Foundation, Qatar, 2015
Acquisition: RSA Diploma Collection Deposit, 2015
This work was recently exhibited at V&A Dundee in Ushida Findlay: Unbroken Spaces. The exhibition was part of RSA200: Celebrating Together and the partnership with the V&A led to a major archive of Findlay’s practice entering the RSA collections as a gift from her family
William Littlejohn RSA, Untitled (Green Moon, Fish and Jug), c.1975-80
Acquisition: William Littlejohn bequest, 2006
Artist studio gifts and bequests are part of the lifeblood of the collections and the modern RSA. The RSA family of artists and their legacies create a cyclical environment of collecting, funding and supporting Scotland’s visual arts.
2016 – 2026
Arthur Melville, A Riff Arab, 1882 - 1893
Acquisition: Purchase, Lyon and Turnbull, 2025
In 2014 the RSA established a ringfenced acquisition fund, which has allowed us to fill significant gaps in the collections. As we approached our bicentenary year, we were delighted to fill a major one by purchasing an example of the distinctive watercolours of Arthur Melville.
Wendy McMurdo RSA, Robot Workshop, 2010
Acquisition: RSA Diploma Collection Deposit, 2021
In 2018, the Royal Photographic Society listed McMurdo as one of its Hundred Heroines, the same year she was elected a Royal Scottish Academician. A recent solo exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery recognised her importance within the story of photography in Scotland.
Our Collection has grown and evolved over the past 200 years, but this story is far from complete. We continue to build the collection today, seeking out works that broaden our understanding of Scottish art and fill gaps in its history. As we look ahead towards the Academy’s next 200 years, new acquisitions will continue to shape, strengthen and expand the collection for future generations.
About the author
Sandy Wood
Sandy Wood is Head of Collections at the RSA. He is responsible for the management, care of, and access to the RSA’s uniquely formed collection, Recognised as a collection of National Significance to Scotland.
Sandy joined the RSA in 2003 after graduating in Fine Art from Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen, later completing a Masters in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. Of particular interest to him are the stories woven between historic and contemporary practice and practitioners, artistic lineage and legacy, and the revealing of art through process and artistic voice.
