Publication: ANDIAMO! - Forty years of the RSA John Kinross Scholarships to Florence

Each year the RSA John Kinross Scholarship enables 10 final year undergraduate and postgraduate art and architecture students the opportunity to research and develop their practice in Florence for up to three months.

Florence has been an inspiration to generations of artists and architects and this opportunity enables successful applicants to experience the city’s magnificent history, study its art and architecture, learn the language and create a visual record of their experience. Upon their return, examples of scholars’ work are accessioned to the Collection of the Royal Scottish Academy, recognised as a Collection of National Significance to Scotland.

Since the John Kinross Memorial Fund was established in 1981 by John Blythe Kinross CBE HRSA in memory of his father, John Kinross RSA, it has supported over 450 emerging artists and architects and distributed over £730,000 in funds. From its modest beginnings, the Scholarship has grown to be the most important travelling award the RSA has ever administered, and the current guidelines continue to reflect the spirit in which it was originally envisioned.

To mark this significant milestone, 20 artists and architects, five from each decade, have been invited to show recent work alongside work they produced at the time of their Scholarship, many of the latter coming from the RSA’s own Collection. The exhibition, curated by Mary Bourne RSA with assistance from Fergus Purdie RSA, highlights the breadth and diversity of the practices the Scholarship has supported and the lasting impact the experience has had on the scholars involved.

The exhibition also includes a curated selection of work and documentation from the RSA’s extensive Kinross Collection. View the exhibition online here.

This accompanying publication delves into the history of the Scholarship and the experiences of many of the artists and architects involved.

It includes a foreword Elizabeth Shields, granddaughter of John Kinross, and an introduction by RSA Director, Colin Greenslade. Essays by Professor Andrew Patrizio, Kinross Scholar, Kate McCrickard and RSA Collections Curator, Sandy Wood.

* An exclusive discount is available to RSA Friends and John Kinross Scholars. Please email exhibitions@royalscottishacademy.org for further details.