ROYAL SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF PAINTERS IN WATERCOLOUR
Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour was founded in 1876 as the Scottish Society of Water-Colour Painters and held its first public exhibition in 1879 in premises on West Nile Street in Glasgow when some twenty-five artists exhibited. Its first elected President was Francis Powell, already a member of the RWS, one of the two chronologically earlier English watercolour societies. Founder members in Scotland were artists as Sam Bough, William McTaggart and George Paul Chalmers. It was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria in 1886. The Society's annual exhibitions are normally held in Edinburgh although, on occasion, they have also been held in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and Perth. Currently the membership of over 120 is replete with the names of painters who have international reputations, in Scotland and in Britain. Recent well-known members include Robert Henderson Blyth, William Gillies, Robin Philipson, Elizabeth Blackadder and Carlo Rossi.