Young Contemporaries

In 1949 the idea was put forward by Carel Weight, then teaching at the RCA, that the vacant RBA galleries in Suffolk Street, London could be used to exhibit students' work. Although the early shows tended to be dominated by the work of the RCA students, eventually students from other art schools began to exhibit there too. In the 1960’s the Young Contemporaries' exhibitions moved to the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London’s East End and it was through these shows that Pop Art, especially the work of David Hockney, first attracted the attention of the general public. Most of the administration of the exhibitions was undertaken by the students themselves and among the many artists who first showed with the Young Contemporaries were Frank Auerbach, Robyn Denny, Leon Kossoff, Edward Middleditch and Jack Smith. The most famous Young Contemporaries show was that of 1961, when British Pop art first appeared in force in the work of Derek Boshier, David Hockney, Allen Jones, Ron Kitaj, and Peter Phillips, all students or former students at the RCA. Lack of funding and organisational skills meant that sometimes exhibitions failed to happen. 1970 saw the last show for a few years.

However in 1974 a group of tutors from some London colleges, including Gillian Ayres, Paul Huxley and William Tucker, got together to revive the exhibition and a new constitution was drawn up. The exhibition was re-christened New Contemporaries and its first showing took place at Camden Arts Centre in 1974. Again financial troubles beset the organisation which lasted under this guise until 1986. The catalogue for that year’s show prefaced by Andrew Lambirth, contained an historical foreword entitled 'New Contemporaries Past and Present'. The New Contemporaries continues today under the auspices of the ACGB and has had much sponsorship. Patrons include or have included British Telecom, Bloomberg and the Moores family of Liverpool. It shows at the ICA, London and also tours to four UK regional centres.

A spin-off in the form of Northern Young Contemporaries was established in 1965 and held regular exhibitions at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester which lasted until 1993. Similarly Scottish Young Contemporaries was established by Richard Demarco in 1969 and appears to have lasted into the early 1990's latterly under the auspices of the SAC.