In January 2026, the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) opens its bicentenary year with two exhibitions that explore how creative knowledge, influence and legacy are passed from one generation to the next.
Origin Stories and Generation mark the beginning of RSA200, a year-long programme celebrating 200 years of Scottish art and architecture.
Origin Stories
On view: 24 January – 8 March 2026
Members’ Lobby and Octagon Galleries, RSA Lower Galleries
Everyone remembers their favourite teacher. For artists, the intensely creative environment of art school often makes tutors pivotal figures in shaping both practice and career. Origin Stories traces the web of artistic relationships that has evolved through art teaching in Scotland, revealing a rich lineage of influence stretching from the nineteenth century to the present day.
Curated by Sandy Wood, Head of Collections at the RSA, the exhibition brings together works by some of the most celebrated names in Scottish art alongside those by emerging artists. Drawing on extensive research and a survey of living Royal Scottish Academicians, the exhibition uncovers previously untold stories of mentorship, inspiration and exchange that flow across generations from tutor to student.
Since its foundation in 1826, the RSA has placed teaching and training at the heart of its mission. Royal Scottish Academicians have played central roles in the development of Scotland’s art schools in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and later the Moray School of Art, with visiting lecturer programmes and professional mobility creating a fertile cross-pollination of ideas across the country.
Origin Stories reveals how these connections form a close-knit yet expansive creative family tree. From early institutions such as Edinburgh’s Trustees’ Academy and Glasgow’s Foulis Academy to today’s studios and classrooms, the exhibition celebrates the shared identity and mutual progress that has built Scotland’s artistic community.
Sandy Wood, RSA Head of Collections says:
Since I started working at the RSA and begun reconnecting with many of the tutors who I’d known at Gray’s School of Art, the idea of a tutor-to-student family tree in Scottish art has been something I’ve often returned to. Over the last 200 years the RSA and our Academicians have been intimately connected with art teaching in Scotland and the web of relationships formed as it has evolved is something to behold. I feel privileged in my role as Head of Collections at the RSA to be connected to so many of the artists who have been instrumental to this ecosystem, and the opportunity to reveal this fascinating area of research to audiences is a most fitting way to kick off our celebrations for the RSA’s 200th year.
Exhibitors:
David Allan (1744-96); Andrew Wilson (1780-1848); Sir William Allan PRSA (1782-1850); Robert Scott Lauder RSA (1803-69); Thomas Duncan RSA (1807-45); William Brodie RSA (1815-81); William McTaggart RSA (1835-1910); James Campbell Noble RSA (1846-1913); Francis (Fra) Henry Newbery (1855-1946); James Pittendrigh MacGillivray RSA (1856-1938); Edward Arthur Walton RSA (1860-1922); Hugh Armstrong Cameron (act.c.1901-23); David Forrester Wilson RSA (1873-1950); Percival Herbert Portsmouth RSA (1874-1953); David Alison RSA (1881-1955); David Macbeth Sutherland RSA (1883-1973); Penelope Beaton (1886-1963); Eric Schilsky RSA (1898-1974); Sir William George Gillies RSA (1898-1973); Hugh Adam Crawford RSA (1899-1982); Alexander Carrick RSA (1882-1966); Sydney Birnie Stewart ARSA (1914-76); Robert Henderson Blyth RSA (1919-70); Ann Henderson RSA (1921-76); James W H Cumming RSA (1922-91); Anthony Hatwell; Frederick William Stiven ARSA (1929-97); Frances Walker RSA; Elizabeth Blackadder (1931-2021); Vincent Butler RSA (1933-2017); William Scott PPRSA (1935-2012); Sylvia Wishart RSA (1936-2008); Will Maclean RSA, Kenneth White HRSA (1936-2023); William Brotherston RSA; Marian Leven RSA; Jake Harvey RSA; Stuart Mackenzie RSA; Dalziel+Scullion RSA; Mary Bourne RSA; Mhairi Killin RSA (Elect); Michael Agnew RSA; Richard Geoffrey Uglow; Rosalind Lawless; Jessica Harrison RSA; Kate Fahey; Elvey Stedman; Arthur James Walton PPRSA (b.1951); Robert Bain (1949-89); William Polwin Baxter (1931-2018); Gordon Bryce RSA; Alan Cowie; Bel Cowie (1943-83); Lennox Dunbar RSA; Jacki Parry RSA; Philip Reeves RSA (1931-2017); Willie Rodger RSA (1930 – 2018); Ian McKenzie Smith PPRSA (1935-2025)
Generation
On view: 24 January – 8 March 2026
Finlay Room, RSA Lower Galleries
Curated by Richard Murphy RSA OBE, Generation explores the idea of an architectural family tree through the work of sixteen architects who previously worked at Richard Murphy Architects and have since gone on to establish their own successful practices. Acknowledging the influence of figures such as Ted Cullinan, Richard MacCormac, Isi Metzstein RSA, Glen Murcutt and Carlo Scarpa, Murphy turns his attention to the next generation, examining how architectural ideas, values and approaches are absorbed, adapted and transformed over time.
The exhibition presents a compelling snapshot of architectural legacy in action, highlighting how shared experience within a practice can create diverse and distinctive voices. Generation sits in dialogue with Origin Stories, offering an architectural counterpart to its exploration of creative lineage.
Exhibitors: Craig Amy | Tina Bergman | Andrew Brown | Sonia Browse | Oliver Chapman (1970–2024) | Kris Grant | Peter Guthrie | Ed Hollis | Klas Hyllen | Gareth Jones, Daryl Robbins and Brian Tobin | Matt Loader | Jordi Sanahuja | Stewart Stevenson | Wil Tunnell
Exhibition information:
24 January – 8 March 2026
The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL
Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 12-5pm | free entry
royalscottishacademy.org