William Gillies - Skye Hills from near Morar
(The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art)

RSW History

When the 100th Annual Exhibition was staged in 1980, the Society was unafraid to show its Members' work in RSA Galleries in Edinburgh in the daunting company of a large loan show of international 20th century masters of watercolour. Today it is eager to open out, to be seen far and wide. In recent years it has been invited to take part in or provide exhibitions in London with the RWS at its Bankside Gallery, in Dundee at the McManus Galleries, at the Roger Billcliffe Gallery in Glasgow and the Richmondhill Gallery in Surrey. It has also shown with the Watercolour Society of Wales in Conway and at the Newport Museum and Art Gallery. The RSW is proud of its historic origins and of the impressive cavalcade of important artists who have sustained it throughout its lifetime, but now, more than ever, it is concerned with the future and determined to make its painters known to the public throughout Scotland and beyond.

Jack Firth
2002