LONDON, ENGLAND.- The Royal Watercolour Society presents a bicentennial exhibition called The Presidents Past and Present to celebrate those who have contributed to its history. The Society has the proud distinction of being the first institution anywhere in the world to specialise in watercolours, and in its Victorian heyday it inspired similar organisations throughout Europe. Moreover as the first body of artists to both secede from the Royal Academy and establish an independent identity for itself, it set a precedent for many other societies.

Although it has undergone various changes, the RWS continues today to fulfil much the same function it did almost two hundred years ago and, aside from the Academy itself, it can claim to be the oldest artistic body in Britain still functioning today. The roll call of Members include artists such as John Sell Cotman, David Cox, Edward Burne-Jones, Helen Allingham and among current Members are Leslie Worth, Pamela Kay and Ken Howard.

The Society's programme of exhibition at Bankside Gallery includes two Members' exhibitions, one in the Spring, one in the Autumn and a number of joint exhibitions with the RE and exhibitions by individual Members.