15 Church Street, Esher, Surrey, United Kingdom, Surrey
Detailed Information
  • Discerning Eye, ING and Parker Harris (organizers of annual exhibition).
  • Annual.
  • ING Purchase Prize – ¬£5,000
  • DE Founder’s Purchase Prize – ¬£2,500 in honour of Michael Reynolds
  • DE Chairman’s Purchase Prize – ¬£1,000
  • Meynell Fenton Prize – ¬£1,000
  • Humphreys Purchase Prize – ¬£750
  • Wright Purchase Prize – ¬£500
  • DE Sculpture and 3D Work Prize – ¬£250
  • St Cuthberts Mill Award
  • Regional Prizes of ¬£250 each awarded to outstanding entries from the regions
  • A key reward for this scheme is the exhibition of work in the Discerning Eye exhibition at the Mall Galleries.
  • Open to all British artists or those resident in the UK.
  • The programme is advertised as providing a unique opportunity for works by lesser-known artists to be displayed alongside those by internationally known names.
  • Combination of invited artists and open submission of works. Six selectors ‚Äì two artists, two collectors, two critics ‚Äì curate their own separate exhibitions, taking a minimum of 25% of their final selection from the pool of submitted works.

The Discerning Eye annual exhibition is a show of small works independently selected by six prominent figures from different areas of the art world: two artists, two collectors and two critics.

The selectors choose both publicly submitted works and works by personally invited artists. Each selector’s section is hung separately to give each its own distinctive identity. The impression emerges of six small exhibitions within the whole.

It provides an unusual opportunity for works by lesser-known artists to be hung alongside contributions from internationally recognized names. The selectors are solely responsible for their own selection; selection is not by committee. The only restrictions are limitation of size (only small works are permitted) and to select at least 25% of their section from the open submission.

To enter work you must be currently resident in the UK, your work must be for sale, and it must be a maximum of twenty inches (50 centimetres) in any dimension. Artists can submit up to six works which can be two or three dimensional using any media.

The open submission process begins each summer with the publication of a call for entries. The selections are made in September. All works must be for sale and the Discerning Eye’s commission helps to fund our activities.