2021
Tracey Emin was born in Croydon, in South London, in 1963, and raised in Margate, Kent. She studied fashion at the Medway College of Design (now the University for the Creative Arts) from 1980–82. At Medway, she met Billy Childish, who would become a huge inspiration for her work, and became closely associated with The Medway Poets. During this time, Emin became the administrator for Childish’s small printing press, Hangman Books.
In 1984 she went on to study printing at Maidstone Art College. In 1983, Emin opened a shop with fellow artist Sarah Lucas, called The Shop in Bethnal Green. The Shop sold works by Emin and Lucas, including original t-shirts and ashtrays featuring iconic artist Damien Hirst.
In November 1993, Emin held her first solo show at White Cube in London. She named her autobiographical exhibition “My Major Retrospective,” which largely consisted of personal photographs, photos of her own early paintings that she had destroyed, and a few emotionally charged items such as a packet of cigarettes her uncle was holding when he was decapitated in a car crash.
In 1994, Emin toured the United States, making stops en route with partner Carl Freedman to give readings from her autobiographical book Exploration of the Soul. In 1995, Emin produced her famous “tent” — Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995 — which was exhibited in Freedman’s curated show “Minky Manky” at the South London Gallery. This piece was later bought by Charles Saatchi and included in the acclaimed 1997 “Sensation” exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, going on to tour Berlin and New York.
Emin appeared on a Channel 4 television series in 1997 titled Is Painting Dead? that largely comprised a discussion over the Turner Prize. Two years later, in 1999, Emin was shortlisted for the Turner Prize herself and exhibited My Bed at the Tate Gallery. In the same year, she exhibited a number of monoprint drawings inspired by Princess Diana for an exhibition at The Blue Gallery, London.
Elton John and George Michael are both famed collectors of Emin’s work, with Michael holding the “A Tribute to Tracey Emin” exhibition in September 2007 at the Dallas-based Goss-Michael Foundation. A solo exhibition, “This is Another Place,” was held at the Modern Art Oxford from 2002–03, and in 2007, Emin was included in the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The same year, Emin was made Royal Academician by the Royal Academy of Arts. She has previously been invited to include works at the Royal Academy “Summer Exhibitions” dating back to 2001. Emin curated the 2008 “Summer Exhibition” and gave a public talk and interview with Matthew Collings, during which they mused on her role within the Royal Academy. Emin’s art has fetched astronomical amounts at auction, selling to Charles Saatchi, the 2011 Prime Minister (David Cameron), David Bowie and more for their private collections.
Find original Tracey Emin prints and other art on 1stDibs.
True Love By Tracey Emin
By Tracey Emin
Located in Dubai, Dubai
True Love By Tracey Emin Tracey Emin is a prominent British artist and one of the leading figures of the Young British Artists (YBAs) movement. Renowned for her provocative and au...
Paper, Lithograph
Her soft lips touched mine and everything became hard By Tracey Emin
By Tracey Emin
Located in Dubai, Dubai
Her soft lips touched mine and everything became hard By Tracey Emin Tracey Emin is a prominent British artist and one of the leading figures of the Young British Artists (YBAs) mo...
Neon Light
Everybody Needs a Place to Thin By Tracey Emin
By Tracey Emin
Located in Dubai, Dubai
Everybody Needs a Place to Think By Tracey Emin 2002 Signed and dated Unique monoprint on wove paper of the same design on the reverse of the sheet, a working proof for the invit...
Monoprint
A Sleep at Home By Tracey Emin
By Tracey Emin
Located in Dubai, Dubai
A Sleep at Home By Tracey Emin Tracey Emin is a prominent British artist and one of the leading figures of the Young British Artists (YBAs) movement. Renowned for her provocative a...
Paper, Lithograph
Tracey Emin, Grand Hotel I, Lithograph Print, 2016
By Tracey Emin
Located in Dubai, Dubai
Tracey Emin, Grand Hotel I, Lithograph Print, 2016 A Polymer gravure lithograph printed on Somerset 300gsm paper From a limited edition of 100. 81/100 Hand signed, titled and numb...
Paper, Lithograph, Polymer
Tracey Emin, The Sex Series (The Complete Set of 5) Giclee Print on Paper, 2013
By Tracey Emin
Located in Dubai, Dubai
Tracey Emin, The Sex Series (The Complete Set of 5) Giclee Print on Paper, 2013 Giclee print on paper Edition of 200. Signed, unnumbered Excellent / 'as new' condition. Each piece i...
Paper, Giclée
The News Is I Love You, Black Frame
By Tracey Emin
Located in London, GB
2021 Offset lithograph on a paper napkin with accompanying offset lithograph postcard Framed size 34.5 x 26.5 cm Edition of 300 Published by Air Mail, New York, for 2021 Frieze Londo...
Postcard, Tissue Paper, Lithograph, Offset
Tracey Emin, I Promise to Love You
By Tracey Emin
Located in Hamburg, DE
Tracey Emin (British, b. 1963) I Promise to Love You, 2012 Medium: Embroidered cotton napkin with swing tag Dimensions: 41 x 41 cm (16.15 x 16.5 in) Markings: Hand-signed, dated and ...
Cotton
I Forgot How Beautiful You Are
By Tracey Emin
Located in Miami, FL
racey Emin, in full Tracey Karima Emin, (born July 3, 1963, Croyden, Greater London, England), British artist noted for using a wide range of media—including drawing, video, and installation art, as well as sculpture and painting—and her own life as the subject of her art. Her works were confessional, provocative, and transgressive, often portraying sexual acts and reproductive organs. Critics were seldom lukewarm in their response to her. Like Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas, she was considered one of the YBAs (Young British Artists; also known as the BritArtists) who came to prominence in the 1990s. Emin and her twin brother, Paul, were born to an unwed mother. Their father, who was married to someone other than their mother, was a Turkish Cypriot. Emin grew up in the seaside resort town of Margate. She dropped out of school at age 13 and moved to London at 15. Two years later she attended Medway College of Design (now part of the University for the Creative Arts), Rochester, where she studied fashion. She was accepted without a secondary-school certificate at nearby Maidstone College of Art (also now part of UCA) and earned a fine-arts degree in 1986. Thereafter she obtained a master’s degree in painting (1989) from the Royal College of Art in London. In 1993, in the former London borough of Bethnal Green, Emin and fellow artist Lucas opened a store where they sold their own handmade items. One of Emin’s earliest exhibitions took place in 1993–94 at the influential White Cube gallery on Duke Street (1993–2002). That show, ironically titled “My Major Retrospective,” gave a hint of things to come. It displayed personally significant artifacts from Emin’s life, such as a hospital bracelet and personal correspondence, in addition to a quilt on which she had stitched the names of family members and notes to them. In 1994 Emin undertook a U.S. tour of performance art for which, sitting in her grandmother’s chair...
Neon Light
I Am The Last Of My Kind
By Tracey Emin
Located in London, GB
Published by the Royal Academy
Lithograph, Offset
I Am The Last Of My Kind
By Tracey Emin
Located in London, GB
Published by the Royal Academy
Lithograph, Offset
I Promise To Love You
By Tracey Emin
Located in London, GB
2014 Colour offset lithograph on 250 gsm glossy wove paper 70 x 50 cm Edition of 500 Signed and dated in pen by Tracey Emin Published by Emin International Stored in its original tub...
Paper, Lithograph, Offset
