List of officers of the Royal Academy of Arts

Officers of the Royal Academy of Arts

An early Summer Exhibition at the Academy's original home in Somerset House.

This is a list of the officers of the Royal Academy of Arts.

Presidents (PRA)

President	Served
Joshua Reynolds	1768–1792[1]
Benjamin West	1792–1805
James Wyatt	1805–1806
Benjamin West	1806–1820
Thomas Lawrence	1820–1830
Martin Archer Shee	1830–1850
Charles Lock Eastlake	1850–1865
Francis Grant	1866–1878
Lord Leighton	1878–1896
John Everett Millais	February–August 1896
Edward Poynter	1896–1918
Aston Webb	1919–1924
Frank Dicksee	1924–1928
William Llewellyn	1928–1938
Edwin Lutyens	1938–1944
Alfred Munnings	1944–1949
Gerald Kelly	1949–1954
Albert Richardson	1954–1956
Charles Wheeler	1956–1966
Thomas Monnington	1966–1976
Hugh Casson	1976–1984
Roger de Grey	1984–1993[1]
Philip Dowson	1993–1999
Phillip King	1999–2004
Nicholas Grimshaw	2004–2011
Christopher Le Brun	2011–2019
Rebecca Salter	2019–present

Keepers

Keeper	Served
George Michael Moser	10 Dec 1768 – 24 Jan 1783
Agostino Carlini	3 Mar 1783 – 24 Sep 1790
Joseph Wilton	24 Sep 1790 – 25 Nov 1803
Henry Fuseli	24 Dec 1804 – 16 Apr 1825
Henry Thomson	9 Jun 1825 – 10 Dec 1827
William Hilton	10 Dec 1827 – 30 Dec 1839
George Jones	3 Mar 1840 – 31 Dec 1850
Charles Landseer	29 Mar 1851 – 6 May 1873
Frederick Richard Pickersgill	10 Jul 1873 – 3 Aug 1887
Philip Hermogenes Calderon	3 Aug 1887 – 30 Apr 1898
Ernest Crofts	29 Sep 1898 – 19 Mar 1911
Andrew Carrick Gow	8 Dec 1911 – 1 Feb 1920
Charles Sims	18 Mar 1920 – 8 Nov 1926
Walter Westley Russell	1 Oct 1927 – 31 Dec 1942
Gerald Kelly	19 Jan 1943 – 11 Dec 1945
Philip Connard	11 Dec 1945 – 31 Dec 1949
Henry Rushbury	22 Apr 1949 – 30 Jun 1964
Peter Greenham	30 Jun 1964 – 30 Sep 1985
Edward Middleditch	1 Oct 1985 – 30 Sep 1986
Norman Adams	1 Oct 1986 – 30 Sep 1995
Leonard McComb	1 Oct 1995 – 21 May 1998
Brendan Neiland	21 May 1998 – 28 Jul 2004
Maurice Cockrill	28 Oct 2004 – 1 Oct 2011
Eileen Cooper	1 Oct 2011 – 31 Aug 2017
Rebecca Salter	1 Sep 2017 – 4 May 2020
Cathie Pilkington	5 May 2020 – present

Treasurers

Treasurer	Served
William Chambers	10 Dec 1768 – 8 Mar 1796
John Yenn	2 Apr 1796 – 8 Jun 1820
Robert Smirke	8 Jun 1820 – 18 Jul 1850
Philip Hardwick	18 Jul 1850 – 25 Mar 1861
Sydney Smirke	25 Mar 1861 – 26 Feb 1874
Edward Middleton Barry	26 Feb 1874 – 27 Jan 1880
George Edmund Street	19 Nov 1880 – 18 Dec 1881
Richard Norman Shaw	8 Mar 1882 – 28 Mar 1882
John Callcott Horsley	14 Jun 1882 – 17 Nov 1897
Alfred Waterhouse	17 Nov 1897 – 5 Dec 1901
Thomas Graham Jackson	5 Dec 1901 – 8 May 1912
Aston Webb	8 May 1912 – 25 Apr 1919
Frank Short	25 Apr 1919 – 5 Dec 1932
Sydney Lee	5 Dec 1932 – 5 Dec 1940
Edwin Cooper	5 Dec 1940 – 24 Jun 1942
E. Vincent Harris	3 Dec 1942 – 7 Dec 1954
Edward Maufe	7 Dec 1954 – 10 Dec 1958
Louis de Soissons	10 Dec 1958 – 23 Sep 1962
Basil Spence	11 Dec 1962 – 31 Oct 1964
James Gunn	8 Dec 1964 – 30 Dec 1964
Donald McMorran	20 Jan 1965 – 6 Aug 1965
Marshall Sisson	7 Dec 1965 – 8 Dec 1970
William Holford	8 Dec 1970 – 20 Oct 1975
Hugh Casson	9 Dec 1975 – 29 Apr 1976
Roger de Grey	29 Apr 1976 – 31 Dec 1984
Philip Powell	1 Jan 1985 – 30 Sep 1995
Michael Kenny	1 Oct 1995 – 28 Dec 1999
Paul Huxley	30 Mar 2000 – 31 Aug 2014
Chris Orr	12 Mar 2014 – 19 Mar 2018
Chris Wilkinson	19 Mar 2018 – 31 October 2020
Peter St John	1 November 2020 - present

Secretary & Chief Executive

Secretary	Served	Ref.
Francis Milner Newton	10 Dec 1768 – 10 Dec 1788
John Inigo Richards	10 Dec 1788 – 2 Mar 1810
Henry Howard	11 Feb 1811 – 20 Jan 1847
John Prescott Knight	23 Nov 1847 – 10 Jul 1873
Frederick A. Eaton	10 Jul 1873 – 10 Sep 1913
Walter Lamb	2 Dec 1913 – 31 Dec 1951
Humphrey Brooke	1 Jan 1952 – 12 Jul 1968
Sidney C. Hutchison	1 Oct 1968 – 31 Mar 1982	[2]
Piers Rodgers	1 Apr 1982 – 30 Sep 1996
David Gordon	1 Oct 1996 – 31 Jul 2002
Lawton Fitt	21 Oct 2002 – 24 Mar 2005
MaryAnne Stevens	1 Apr 2005 – 1 Sep 2007
Charles Saumarez Smith	1 Sep 2007 – December 2018	[3]
Axel Rüger	June 2019 – 31 October 2024
Natasha Mitchell	1 November 2024 - present	[4]

Honorary officers of the Royal Academy of Arts

Honorary Academician Extraordinary

Honorary Academician Extraordinary	Elected	Notes	Ref.
Winston Churchill	1948 – 1965		[5]

Honorary Fellows

Honorary Fellow	Elected	Notes	Ref.
David Attenborough	10 December 1992		[6]
Edward Fox	9 December 1993		[7]
Alan Bennett	18 May 2000		[8]
Pierre Rosenberg	18 May 2000		[9]
Quentin Blake	24 May 2001		[10]
Alfred Brendel	2009		[11]
A. S. Byatt	2009		[12]
Richard Cork	2011		[13]
Joseph Rykwert	2011		[14]
John Tusa	2011		[15]
Jeanette Winterson	2011		[16]
Svetlana Alpers	2014		[17]
Nicholas Hytner	2014		[18]
Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire	9 March 2016		[19]
Agnes Gund	9 March 2016		[20]
Marina Warner	19 March 2018		[21]
Tim Berners-Lee	10 December 2019		[22]
Zadie Smith	11 September 2020		[23]
Sarah Gilbert	14 December 2021		[24]
Hisham Matar	14 December 2021		[25]
Ngaire Woods	2022		[26]

Honorary Members

Honorary Member	Position	Elected	Ref.
James Fenton	Antiquarian of the Royal Academy	2002 – present	[27]
Sidney C. Hutchison	Antiquarian of the Royal Academy	1992 – 2000	[2]
Lucy Winkett	Chaplain	2010 – present	[28]
John Boardman	Professor of Ancient History	1989 – present	[29]
Mary Beard	Professor of Ancient Literature	2013 – present	[30]
Charles Saumarez Smith	Professor of Architectural History	1 September 2019 – 31 August 2023	[3]
Dawn Adès	Professor of History of Art	2008 – present	[31]
Alan Moses	Professor of Law	2006 – present	[32]
Peter Ricketts	Secretary of Foreign Correspondence	2018 – present	[33]
Simon Robertson	Honorary Corresponding Member	2008 – present	[34]
Scott Mead	Honorary Corresponding Member	2019 – present	[35]

Honorary Members ex officio

An incomplete list of the ex officio members, by virtue of their holding of another office.

Honorary Member	ex officio	Elected	Preferred media	Notes	Ref.
Dermod O'Brien	President of the Royal Hibernian Academy	1911 – 1945	Painting		[36]
Joyce W. Cairns	President of the Royal Scottish Academy	2018 – present			[37]
Derek Balmer	President of the Royal West of England Academy	2003 – 2010			[38]

Honorary Archivists

Honorary Archivist	Elected	Notes	Ref.
Sidney C. Hutchison	1982 – 2000		[2]

Honorary Curators

Honorary Curator	Elected	Notes	Ref.
Stephen Farthing	1999 – present		[39]
Donald Hamilton Fraser	1992 – 1999		[40]
Lawrence Gowing	1985 – 1991		[41]

Honorary Curators of Architecture

Honorary Curator	Elected	Notes	Ref.
Adrian Forty

Honorary Curators of Prints and Drawings

Honorary Curator of Prints and Drawings	Elected	Notes	Ref.
Andrew Wilton	2003 – present		[42]

Honorary Surveyors

Honorary Surveyor	Elected	Notes	Ref.
Roger Zogolovitch	2015 – present		[43]

Other posts

Professors of the Royal Academy Schools

Professor of Painting	Served	Notes	Ref.
Lubaina Himid	2020 – present
Mali Morris	2019 – 2020
Chantal Joffe	2015 – 2019
Fiona Rae	2011 – 2015

Professor of Chemistry	Served	Notes	Ref.
Bronwyn Ormsby	2019 – present

Eranda Professor of Drawing	Served	Notes	Ref.
Alison Wilding	1 October 2018 – present
David Remfry	2016 – 19 March 2018
Michael Landy	2014 – 2016
Tracey Emin	2011 – 2013
Ian McKeever	2006 – 2011
Gary Hume	2004 – 2006
Peter Blake	2002 – 2004
Christopher Le Brun	2000 – 2002

The post was created in 2000, supported by the Eranda Rothschild Foundation.

Professor of Perspective	Served	Notes	Ref.
Fiona Banner	2020 – present
Humphrey Ocean	2012 – 2020
J. M. W. Turner	1807 – 1837

Professor of Printmaking	Served	Notes	Ref.
Norman Ackroyd	1999 – 2000

Professor of Sculpture	Served	Notes	Ref.
Mike Nelson	2019 – present
Cathie Pilkington	2015 – 2019
Richard Wilson	2011 – 2015
David Mach	2000 – 2007
Bryan Kneale	1985 – 1989	Master of the Sculpture School 1982 – 1985

Residents

Poet-in-Residence	Served
Pele Cox	2 Sep 2011 – 2012

See also

• List of Royal Academicians