The Royal Academy of Arts presents a display of drawings by the renowned British architect Norman Shaw RA (1831-1912). Considered the most brilliant and influential of their time, Norman Shaw’s architectural drawings are exemplars of Victorian draughtsmanship and practice. Shaw designed great Tudoresque country houses, he built powerful public buildings such as the turreted New Scotland Yard on London’s Embankment and he also led gracious renovations, including the intricate alterations and additions to Burlington House, the home of the Royal Academy of Arts. With a fascinating array of works surviving Shaw’s office and now in the Royal Academy Collections – from working drawings to dazzling perspectives – this display explores the materials, draughtsmanship and design practices of Shaw and his small but brilliant staff. Photographs of London buildings designed by Shaw will also be displayed in the Royal Academy of Arts’ Architecture Space.

Norman Shaw ran a small but highly prestigious architectural office. Of the handful of apprentices and assistants he employed over the years, many were or became eminent architects in their own right. Early in his career Shaw became famous for his presentation ink drawings, setting a fashion for the reproduction of architectural drawings in the pages of the recently established building press and also for their display in exhibitions. Beautifully rendered office drawings also show how Shaw passed his ideas to his staff and craftsmen. Later Shaw would turn this labour intensive process over to his assistants, including his chief clerk William Lethaby, founder and first principal of the Central School of Arts and Crafts, today part of Central St Martin’s. Lethaby created a progressive series of drawings for architectural jobs such as the large neo-Jacobean chimneypiece at Cragside, Northumberland, with a loose drawing hand which greatly appealed to the Victorian taste for the ornate.

Many of the working drawings on display are well-worn, after a hard life in the office and being roughly circulated amongst clients and builders; some have edges frayed or missing, with others creased up from constant folding and ground-in with Victorian soot. Rarely seen or investigated, these drawings are simple and directly made by hand, in contrast to the complexity of computer-generated images made today. They come from an era when architects such as Norman Shaw epitomised the best in the art of architecture, creating beautiful renderings for art gallery and workplace alike.

Royal Academy of Arts

Tennant Gallery and Architecture Space
Burlington House, Piccadilly
London W1J 0BD United Kingdom
Ph. +44 (0)20 73008000
www.royalacademy.org.uk

Opening hours

Tuesday - Friday from 10am to 4pm
Saturday - Sunday from 10am to 6pm

Related images
  1. R. Norman Shaw RA (1831-1912), Working drawing of balustrade for a wooden screen (detail), drawn by W.R. Lethaby, 1879-80. Pencil, black ink and coloured washes on paper. c. Royal Academy of Arts, London. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd.
  2. R. Norman Shaw RA (1831-1912), Design for fireplaces, 39 Frognal, Hampstead, London, drawn by Robert Weir Schultz, 1884. Black ink, pencil and coloured washes on paper. c. Royal Academy of Arts, London. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd.
  3. R. Norman Shaw RA (1831-1912), Front entrance for Greenham Lodge, Greenham, Berkshire (detail), drawn by W.R. Lethaby, 1879. Pencil, black ink and coloured washes on paper. c. Royal Academy of Arts, London. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd.