Rebecca Salter – Favourite Things

Rebecca Salter is a British artist and the first female President of the Royal Academy of Arts. As an artist, she has worked with ceramics, paint, printmaking and specialises in woodblock printing combining Western and Japanese traditions. She has written two books; Japanese Woodblock (2001) and Japanese Popular Prints: From Votive Slips to Playing Cards (2006). Salter has also undertaken several architectural commissions and has work in many private and public collections, including the Tate, British Museum, Yale Center for British Art and Yale University Art Gallery. 

These are a few of Rebecca Salter’s favourite things.

Traditional Japanese bath

I lived in Japan for six years, and there is so much that I love and miss terribly. Yet it is possible to satisfy that longing to some extent here in London. The Japanese bath, however, has not really travelled. As a student in Kyoto, I would take my little plastic bowl and even smaller traditional Japanese towel to the local communal bath every evening. The water is an extraordinary 42C, but it warmed you up in the winter and somehow cooled you down in the punishingly hot summers. I loved the intimacy, chatter, and etiquette, and I don’t think I have ever felt so clean. My dream house would have a Japanese bath complete with a traditional image of Mount Fuji in multi-coloured tiles.

Outdoor swimming

I’m aware that there is a bit of a water theme to my choices. As someone who was hopeless at any sport at school, I am stunned to find myself an outdoor swimming addict. I started fairly gently with summer swims in my local lido and then progressed to all year round dips. The hardest part of the lockdowns was not being able to swim, so when my local reservoir was the first place to reopen, I was surprised to discover that I was hardy enough to become a regular. The arrival of winter heralded the arrival of a wetsuit, and I am now an addict. Add socks and gloves and a frosty morning swim with a moorhen is hard to beat. 

Coffee

I am part of the sad generation that first experienced coffee as instant powder or granules. Since “real” coffee came into my life, I find it hard to refuse a cup. I fell in love with iced coffee in Japan (some of the best), and beyond the drink, I am always on the hunt for the finest coffee and walnut cake, coffee chocolates, coffee dessert – in fact, coffee-flavoured anything. One of my favourite recipes is prunes in espresso coffee, and I particularly enjoy the look of slight horror on my guests’ faces – until they discover how delicious it is. 

Wastwater

I am terrible at leaving London, but once a year, we go to a cottage on the shores of Wastwater, which is the most remote, and some say bleakest, of the Lake District lakes. It is also the deepest. Scafell looms over the valley, but the most dramatic landscape is the Screes which swoop down to the shoreline and continue underwater. The weather is nearly always wet, which suits the landscape even if it doesn’t suit most visitors. Every year I fill a sketchbook with lightning drawings made between the outbursts of rain. This year was our fifteenth visit. I know the landscape so well that arriving is like picking up an interrupted conversation with an old friend.  

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

Before I was elected to the Royal Academy, I had never had a work accepted for the Summer Exhibition, so I understand the feeling of rejection and disappointment completely. Like many artists, I had my doubts, but I now understand how unusual it is. The more I have worked on it (as President, I chair the Summer Exhibition Committee every year), the more I love it. We have absolutely no idea what will be submitted each year, but it does feel as if it “takes the creative temperature” of the nation. The Summer Exhibition is open to anyone, and the hang of the works is democratic. Famous artists are hung right next to work by a self-taught artist, and the feeling of pride and delight when the exhibition opens and artists can see their work on our beautiful walls is incredibly moving. This year because of lockdown, it will again be a “winter” Summer Exhibition, but the bustle and excitement it brings to the building will be the same. 

Enjoyed Rebecca Salter’s favourites? Explore the full Favourite Things archive here.