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New Contemporaries is a leading annual exhibition platform for graduate artists within the UK, and has been connected to launching thousands of British artistic careers, from Frank Auerbach to Laure Prouvost. 

 

First established as Young Contemporaries in 1949, the exhibition was organised by students with the support of art school tutors. A painting and sculpture show of student work, it was seen as an immediate success and became a mainstay of the London art calendar for the next two decades. Submisisons to the exhibition were regularly upwards of 1500, with selection by a panel of established artists and tutors.  By 1970 however, changing cultural climates and student tensions caused the exhibition to cease. 

 

With previous Young Contemporaries participants now teaching the next generation, the re-launch of the student exhibition platform was encouraged. Re-launched under an updated title of New Contemporaries, a focus on new artistic practices including performance, installation and moving image saw the remit of the exhibition expand. Selection was conducted by media, again through a panel of established artists and tutors. 

 

Again, as student numbers, expectations and professionalism increased alongside a renewed student autonomy, the amibitions of the exhibition saw student capacity and finances reached. Undergoing a feasibilty review, the exhibition was put on hiatus in 1986. 

 

Finally established as an incorporated organisation with charitable status, New Contemporaries re-launched for the third time in 1989. The format was updated to include graduate and recent graduate students (within two years of completing art education), with selection across all media by a panel of three to four leading British art figures. 

Selection of work was made in person - artists were required to send their work down to London for selection.

 

The Arts Council also arranged for a van to do pick-ups around the colleges. Bruce McLean recalls this being one of the reasons he submitted his work: since the van was there he loaded his work on. 

 

The exhibition begins exhibiting around 500 works per year. By the early 1960s this figure dropped to under 300, and by the end of the decade - initiated through the 1967 Tate exhibition, this has been refined even further to approximately 75. 

Support & Art Prizes:

The Arts Council Prize

Peter Stuyvesant Foundation Prize

The Knapping Prize

Sir Paul Reilly

George Rowney & Co.

Marlborough Fine Art Ltd.

New Art Centre

Special British American Tobacco Company Limited Prizes for Graphics

Art and Artist

Arthur Tooth and Son

Bourlets

Kasmin Gallery

Piccadily Gallery

Reeves

Roland, Browse and Deloanco

Rowan Gallery

Royal Academy

 

1949: Young Contemporaries launched at R.B.A. Galleries

Phase 1: 1949 - 1970

Hosted by R.B.A. Galleries (later F.B.A.)

Phase 2: 1974 - 1986

Phase 2: 1974 - 1986

Phase 3: 1989 - present

Phase 3: 1989 - present

From 1949 - 1970 the Arts Council of Great Britian would make a selection of up to 50 works from the larger London exhibition to tour around the UK.  

The exhibition was regularly hosted by the R.B.A. Galleries on Suffolk Street, London (later becomming known as F.B.A. Galleries. The only years in which the exhibition did not take place in the Suffolk Street galleries was in 1956 when the committee left the booking too late, so loosing out on the venue the exhibition did not take place; in 1967 when the exhibition was invited to the Tate, and again in 1970 when it relocated to Royal Academy. 

See more about the London art scene during the 1950s and 60s with from the Artists' Lives oral history collection at British Library.

Commentary from Duncan Robinson, Eduardo Paolozzi, Alan Bowness, Richard Smith, Anthony Caro, and more...

In 1969 the Arts Council decided to tour an amalgamation of works from both Young Contemporaries and Northern Young Contemporaries. 

 

Northern Young Contemporaries ran from 1963 to 1993 and had been held up to the London-based Young Contemporaries as a paragon of good organisation and cohesion. While a spin-off and running parallel to the London organisation, the Northern Young Contemporaries remained an independent group.  

1970: The last exhibition as Young Contemporaries is held at the Royal Academy. By this point the Arts Council Touring edition has also ceased.  

1974: Young Contemporaries is relaunched as New Contemporaries

With finances and student energy exhausted, the exhibition undergoes a feasibility review. 

1989: Relaunched as BT New Contemporaries

2000: becomes Bloomberg New Contemporaries