Tracey Emin, the artist famous for her revealing installations including the 1999 Turner Prize- nominated "My Bed," has been appointed Professor of Drawing at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The new job comes as a surprise to many as Emin is known more for her installations, but supporters note her work in the medium of drawing is largely underappreciated.
"Her drawings are quite informal in the sense that they are about the everyday," Eliza Bonham Carter, head of the Royal Academy Schools said to the BBC. "There's quite a beautiful use of mark, but there's not a fully worked-up, hatched, shaded, traditional objective drawing."
"I'm really excited to be teaching again after so many years," Emin said. The 48-year-old artist previously joined the institution in 2007 as a Royal Academician.
"I hope that I can add something constructive to the Royal Academy Schools." Emin was selected for the position last Thursday by a board of elite artists and architects, the General Assembly of Royal Academicians.
The announcement comes at an especially thrilling time for the Royal Academy after Fiona Rae was appointed Professor of Painting. Emin and Rae are the first female professors in the Academy's history, founded in 1768 by King George III.
Rae said that the institution made a "huge leap forward from the 18th century to the 21st," adding that last week's selection meeting was one of the "most momentous events in the history of the Academy."
View a video of Emin discussing her piece, "Everyone I Ever Slept With 1963-1995," below.