On March 6th, 1880, the Governor General,
the Marquis of Lorne, inaugurated the first official
exhibition of the RCA and launched the National Gallery
of Canada at the Clarendon Hotel in Ottawa. Each
Academician deposited a work with the Canadian Government
to form the nucleus of the new Gallery’s collection. Sunrise
on the Saguenay, 1880 by Lucius O’Brien,
the first president of the Royal Canadian Academy
of Arts was among the works donated.
Twenty five artists appeared on the list of Charter
Academicians in 1880; including eighteen painters,
six architects, and one lone sculptor. In addition
there were fifty Associates, a group from which
future Academicians would be elected until the
full complement of forty was reached, and after
that when vacancies became available through death
of members.
Charter Academicians in 1880 included Napoleon Bourassa; William Cresswell;
Allan Edson; Daniel Fowler; John A. Fraser; James Griffiths; Eugene
Hamel; Robert Harris; John William Hopkins; Thomas Mower Martin; Lucius
R. O’Brien; Antoine Sebastien Plamondon; William Raphael; Henry
Sandham; Thomas Seaton Scott; Charlotte Schreiber; James Avon Smith;
William George Storm; Francois van Luppen, and Henry Langley.
Ottawa, 16th July, 1880 Sir…I am desired by His Excellency
the Governor-General to forward to you the accompanying
copy of a dispatch from the Secretary of State
for the Colonies, from which you will learn that
Her Majesty has been pleased to confer upon the
Canadian Academy the name and title of “Royal
Canadian Academy of Arts.”
I have the honor to be, Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,
John Kidd,
For the Gov.-Gen’l, Sec’y.*
The RCA was incorporated by an act of parliament
on May 17, 1882.
The RCA established the first life drawing classes
in Canada. A month after the RCA’s 1880 inaugural
gala exhibition at the Clarendon Hotel, the RCA hired
an instructor to begin art classes in rooms at 140
Wellington Street. Eighteen pupils made up the first
enrolment. After a start in Ottawa, the first life
drawing classes also took place in Montreal, Toronto,
and later in Hamilton, Winnipeg and Halifax.
The first RCA Membership Diploma was designed
by painter William Revell RCA, in 1880. In 1937,
A. Scott Carter RCA won the competition for design
of the new Membership Diploma, Carter’s design
was in use until 1973. A. H. Howard designed the
RCA Associate Membership Diploma in 1907, in use
until 1973 when the associate status was abolished
and new categories for membership were created
to include artists in film, photography and the
crafts. A new logo and bilingual Membership Diploma
was designed by Allan Robb Fleming RCA in 1971,
in keeping with the recent change giving legal
bilingual status to the Academy’s name.
The RCA Medal was first presented
in 1962 to Viljo Revell, architect; Norman McLaren,
animator/ film designer; and Clair Dair, typographic
designer. The medal was designed by sculptor Cleeve
Horne RCA and designer Syd Watson RCA.
The RCA Centennial Medallion was
designed in 1979 by Dora de Pedery-Hunt RCA to
commemorate the centenary of the Academy in 1980.
The medal was first presented on the occasion of
the 100th Annual General Assembly of the RCA.
Canada Post issued a stamp on September 15th,
1999, as part of the Millennium Collection,
paying tribute to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts,
the Canada Council, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,
and the National Film Board. The 46-cent stamp featured
a black and white image of the Hanging Committee
of the Canadian Academy of Arts, 1880 in the
background with a colour foreground and the RCA logo.
