Like this work by Tracy Emin?

FannyCornforth

Well, seeing that it was me who said it.
Yes, I can.
I can honestly draw better than that.

Oh, Fanny I'm surprised to see you say that - seems so reactionary!

I'm sure Tracey Emin could make those drawings more conventional to keep the critics at bay, if she wanted to, but they wouldn't be true.

I find them indicative of what she's trying to say, and the drawings are basically of herself... as is most of her work.

I bet you don't like Maggi Hambling's nudes and drawings either..

And I’m sure that others on here can too.

FannyCornforth

Well, seeing that it was me who said it.
Yes, I can.
I can honestly draw better than that.

That was to Foxygloves.

Well, seeing that it was me who said it.
Yes, I can.
I can honestly draw better than that.

FannyCornforth

Wyllow3

Her record in the field is outstanding but she is not a specialist graphic artist Allsorts

Emin was Professor of Drawing at the Royal Academy for two years, which is rich as she can’t draw for toffee.
Her BA is Printmaking and MA is Painting

I was at an Art Uni course part time degree in the 1990's. There was a split in the painting department - the very head of painting was very conceptually based, and didn't encourage those who just wanted to paint. As far as he was concerned, photographic accuracy was dead. But also some tutors who ran life drawing etc which I took advantage of as an option.

Only a few Universities now offer traditional drawing and painting options. But thats partly because of funding - art isn't regarded as sufficiently vocational or useful to have hung onto properly staffed departments and very time intensive teaching.

But of course, up and down the country are all kinds of groups teaching and enjoying making representational work. Also groups for painting expressively, not worrying about "getting it right".

But it's worth asking, "what exactly is "getting it right?" Is it exactness, or producing something that has the power to "move" emotionally.

So it comes as no surprise to know what Emin's BA was named nor what she became. As far as I know, she was supportive of students who wanted to take a traditional route. The RA annual show is a mixture, each year.

But conceptual art has been kicking around since the early 1900's as a continuing thread leading to the ongoing debate "what is art, what is its function".

Now I enjoy both sorts of work - lovely landscapes, portraits, still life, but also powerfully expressed visual ideas that may appear "naive" but carry the weight of powerful emotions or ideas. Emin has led a life of work concentrating on the latter, and I enjoy it as such.

What I choose to have up on the walls in my house generally is different from art that is challenging. I think people like Emin who have the courage to put their emotions right out there are very brave.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202306/medium-88135-ba7b64f3-65f4-450b-8736-445d136a8371.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202306/medium-315605-17511e96-ac31-4dcd-9c67-c31d3c0972e2.jpeg

I don’t see how any of us on GN are qualified to say Emin “can’t draw for toffee”.
Do you?

Pix by Kathy Kollwitz ?????

This seems an incredible trivialising of the work of one of the most significant women artists of the early 20th century - Käthe Kollwitz
It’s like saying Pix by Lenny da Vinci or Mike Angelo.
(Did you mean The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago? )

A touch of The Emperor’s New Clothes. I bet she can’t believe she’s got away with this for years.

Not my cup of tea.

They look like preliminary sketches.

I love her distinctive life drawings, but don't find I like this particlar piece of work.. I do like her though

I see that we speak as one Lovetopaint 😉

Wyllow3

Her record in the field is outstanding but she is not a specialist graphic artist Allsorts

Emin was Professor of Drawing at the Royal Academy for two years, which is rich as she can’t draw for toffee.
Her BA is Printmaking and MA is Painting

Children have a lack of dexterity as well as lack of worry.
I don't expect all art to look like a photograph but the title of this thread is "Like this work by Tracy Emin?" and my answer is No, not much.

I love them, they convey more emotion and personality in their “unfinished”state than refined and detailed portraits from earlier times, a reflection that women are now able to give voice to their feelings rather than idealised representations seen through “the male gaze”. They are extremely suitable as representations of 21st century art for London and in keeping with the aims of the gallery.

Emin herself says: “Women in history are greatly underrepresented. I didn’t want to depict specific or identifiable figures. I felt like the doors of the National Portrait Gallery should represent every woman, every age and every culture throughout time. I used my self as a mental template, but the end result is many different women, some that exist in my mind and some that perhaps exist in reality here and now, as well as from the past. And with all terms of art, it’s up to the viewer to discern what they feel and what they see or who they see for that matter. I want people to stand in-front of the doors and say, ‘she looks like my mother, she looks like my best friend, my daughter.’”

www.designboom.com/art/tracey-emin-45-women-portraits-london-national-portrait-gallery-new-bronze-doors-06-19-2023/

And the original artwork

How was it unloved. A beautiful building, amongst the many carbuncles that sit around London.
"Stony faced men" is this because the building was built by them, or because they paid for it or just a little misandry.

'this once unloved London landmark '

Says who?

I always think they should take children's art more seriously,

Such wonderful perceptions before worry about it looking correctly representational comes in. Wonderful shows.

But then one could say, that an artist who can reach into that part of themselves can have value. On thing about Emin is that she has of course always been aware of the criticisms (and has a higher craft skills level than many of her works show) but persisted in following her own path.

MrsNemo

They are not really appropriate - all a matter of taste, but it's not mine. Tracey Emin has ideas. which can then be executed by others, like her unmade bed. The faces here look just like the class tea towels I have at Christmas from my GC.

I have a cotton bag with a self-portrait by a 6 year old DGD on it which is rather good.

It's interesting looking at the whole body of her work because a lot of it could have been done in an art therapy session. Almost deliberately "naive". By choice.

The point is she had the courage to put it out there, and it does for many what welbeck says.

In some ways it's deliberately rough edged, as life and feelings are.

But we all have things we like or not. Or prefer craft based work to ideas based work.

Can’t believe she was commissioned for anything as important. I am definitely not a fan of her work and held my hands up in despair when she was made professor of drawing at the RA.

i like them, glad she did them.
i find her interesting, and quite admirable, brave.
she has been upbeat about everything despite her illness.
she is very deep, spiritual, and positive about life.
which i find encouraging.

A lot of artists work is executed by others and always has been, or in conjunction with.

Emin has a huge variety of work, maybe look further than the bed?

It's interesting to view her work generally. It's very women orientated and expressive as regards an inner world but if you prefer exact representation look elsewhere.

My feelings about the doors and more detail is because of where they are and there lasting significance.

How much one wants as it were photographic precision's not necessarily the most important thing. Whether they are expressively powerful could be just as an important factor, and one would have to be there to feel that sort of impact.

I would just personally have liked her to work into more precise detail on each one for that place.

(They weren't taken from life, but from imagination)