Tracey Emin. My bed (1998) in publications, exhibitions

Meet Tracey’s long-lost "art grandmother". She publicly initiated shocking disclosure back in 1940, reported nationally in waves of media reports. (She later turned to Art.) Plus a list of exhibitions and selected publications, including fascinating tabloid media coverage, regarding the iconic My bed by Tracey Emin.

R.J. Preece (ADP)
artdesigncafé - art | Art Design Publicity (Remix) | 12 September 2021 | Updated 11 January 2024

Click to see photos of Tracey Emin’s My bed at Tate Britain, London (presumably not Tate Modern), lent by the Duerckheim Collection since 2015 on long term loan.


OVERVIEW OF SECTIONS

A. Meet the 1930s art lady predecessor: "No" to alleged domestic violence; "No" to alleged pro-Nazism, and massive media coverage (essay)
B. Tracey Emin at Lehmann Maupin, New York (including My bed) (Sculpture magazine) (1999)
C. Tracey Emin interview (Sculpture magazine) (including My bed) (2002)
D. Essay on Tracey Emin published in Parkett (including My bed) (2001)
E. Exhibitions and varied publications of Tracey Emin’s My bed




A. MEET THE 1930S ART LADY PREDECESSOR: "NO" TO ALLEGED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE; "NO" TO ALLEGED PRO-NAZISM, AND MASSIVE MEDIA COVERAGE
Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe Diptych collaborator, Emily Hall Tremaine, as largely unknown predecessor of Tracey Emin’s art, artist and media approach

by Robert Preece

Emily & Sensation | Hirst’s £50m diamond skull | Emin’s My Bed

Emily & Three Flags | A Boy for Meg | Marilyn Diptych | Victory Boogie Woogie


Emily Hall Tremaine

Date: 6 September 1940. See: Emily Hall Tremaine - crazy anti-Nazi media coverage.

Date: 10 December 1940

Context: Mother of the famous Victory boogie woogie by Mondrian in the Hague, Warhol’s Marilyn diptych at the Tate, and Johns’s Three flags, Emily Hall Tremaine (previously Spreckels) accused her dodgy second husband of being pro-Nazi in divorce court. After 4 full-on national media coverage cycles in the US, he fired back with more media Sensation, "I’m not the Nazi, SHE is". This was in posh California.

Sample clip, front page, at top, Altoona, Pennsylvania: photo / caption with Emily: "Charged with Naziism". The photo is re-used from an earlier publicity cycle in which Emily wore over $1 million in diamonds (maybe 14.5-220m today, walking with two guards) and stole the press away from the posh guests at the costume party. (Emily is thought to have been an "eyes and ears" spy in the social set for US military intelligence.)

Art historical interpretation: "Here Emily fused the sensibility of both Damien Hirst with his flash diamond skull, but became the diamond skull herself. This was combined with Tracey Emin-like shock, first with shocking disclosure, and as we see, tabloidesque scandal." (R. J. Preece)


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Emily Hall Tremaine aperitif

Cropped view of page in designer / editor "It Girl" Emily Hall Tremaine’s 1930s scrapbook showing multiple media coverage on her and her start-up work at Aperitif magazine.


Emily Hall Tremaine

Sample media coverage from the 1940-41 divorce case, Emily vs. Adolph B. Spreckels, Jr., that shocked the United States for 4-6 months with a multiple news cycle. It is thought that Emily, a self-made publicity master, pursued this— battling Nazi support in elements of American high society and business— not only against Adolph, but his wider sphere, in consultation with Ellis M. Zacharias, head of US Pacific area naval intelligence. After WWII, Emily turned her attention to contemporary art as an organizer and collector. Her acquisitions included the purchases of several early works by Warhol, who may have been aware of Emily and this "I’m not the Nazi, YOU are the Nazi" scandal.


In the late 1990s, Tracey Emin became known for explicit disclosure regarding her art and accounts of her life, resulting in substantial media coverage, largely centered in the UK. In comparison, sixty years earlier (pre-Warhol) Emily Hall von Romberg-Spreckels (and later Tremaine) (1908-87), also experienced substantial nationwide media coverage in the US. From about 1935 especially, Emily’s media "story" went from being a titled social-celebrity to high-profile editorial work for the start-up magazine Aperitif to Damien Hirst-like diamond skull publicity.

In 1940, Emily Hall Spreckels (later Tremaine) courageously stood up and publicly blasted her second husband after a turbulent year-long marriage: "no" to his alleged extreme spousal violence and "no" to his alleged pro-Nazism. This was reported, via her initial divorce filing, in probably all media markets across the United States via wire service reports. Then it got messy.

For Emily, the art and media coverage mix differs from Tracey; Emily encountered full-on personal publicity in c. 1935-41 before she turned to a life focus on art, as well as design, via organizing shows, being for a time the Miller Company’s design director from c. 1944-60, and extensive collecting, including early acquisitions of works like Jasper Johns’s Three flags in 1959, and Andy Warhol’s Marilyn diptych and A boy for Meg, both in 1962. (Scroll down on the three pages to articles.) Emily’s situation however, compared to Tracey’s, was far more full-on and far more dangerous, and today filled with great mystery.


Emily Spreckels files for divorce

Above, news clipping in New York Daily News on 7 September 1940, with re-used photo of Emily wearing diamonds estimated in value today of USD$14-220 million at the Beaux Arts Ball in New York. Emily was reported in the press nationwide about this just nine months earlier. Bottom left, front page of newspaper reporting on chaos in Romania and a Nazi bomb hitting a hospital in London. While difficult and rather disturbing, this photo recalls— in reverse— Emin’s disclosure, Damien’s diamonds and possibly Jake & Dinos Chapman’s Hitler re-works in one go. Emily Hall von Romberg-Spreckels (later Tremaine) lived through this, she survived it. Then she turned to Art.


> To learn more, and see more samples of shocking media coverage, see Meet the other lady behind the diptych; The depiction of the Marilyn Diptych as autobiographical for Emily Hall Tremaine. [Scroll down to the article concerning a (to date) unknown context of the voted #3 most influential work of Modern art. Emily advised Warhol put the two panels together showing celebrity rise and destruction, which she also experienced.] (R. J. Preece, artdesigncafe.com; Contributing Editor, Sculpture magazine, 16 September 2021; updated 27 October 2021.)

R. J. Preece in the author of the forthcoming book Nazis in California: The dangerous journey of Emily Spreckels in high society, 1933-45 | Was she a California Nazi, a US patriot-spy, or was she both? (2025).

For more information, see Section I. Mystery, danger & misunderstandings: Emily Hall Tremaine in the 1930s on the Emily Hall Tremaine / Collection compilations and documentation overview page.



B. Review: Tracey Emin’s My bed and other works at Lehmann Maupin, New York (1999) (spotlighted review)

This review was previously published in Sculpture magazine, 18(10), November 1999, p. 68.

"I’m f***ed up. I’m 35. I’m childless. I’m anorexic. I’m neurotic. I’m psychotic... Everyday I try to sort it out," proclaims Tracey Emin in her tell-all confessional video. Interviewed by herself— adopting a second role— Emin takes on questions about her public persona and her private-turned-public life. Confrontation climaxes when the interviewer walks off the set, and the divine-yet-tragic Ms. Emin barks a "F*** Off" in triumph. On a small monitor, the video plays on a micro-stage, opposite two tiny chairs and sets of slippers for art voyeurs to peer over. This work greeted gallery viewers in a show—entitled “Every Part of Me’s Bleeding”— that has been cited as a contributing factor for Emin being shortlisted for Britain’s £20,000 Turner Prize.


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Those familiar with Tracey Emin’s work have seen her expose herself before— not to mention the promotional nude photograph for the show with Emin lying in a gin-filled bathtub. Previously, she gained notoriety for her tent installation Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995, which listed 102 names and contributed to the media-frenzied Sensation exhibition in London in 1997. Her controversial subjects are drawn from her sordid life. She has divulged her rape at 13, her abundant sexual consumption shortly afterwards, her suicide attempts, two abortions, and one miscarriage.

For this show, Tracey Emin included drawings, a quilt emblazoned with “Pysco Slut” [sic] (1999), and a reassembled beach hut from a past vacation spot frequented by Emin, artist friend Sarah Lucas, and a former boyfriend. The installation My Bed (1998) consists of stained pillows, cigarette butts, K-Y jelly, empty vodka bottles, used tampons, and tissues. A noose hangs overhead. The History of Painting (1998) consists of three pregnancy tests, morning after pills, tampons, blood, and tissue. The First Time I was Pregnant I Started to Crochet the Baby a Shawl (1998) rests hauntingly in a Plexiglas case with needle and yarn. Neon works recalling those of Bruce Nauman include Soba Sex (1999) and My C*** is Wet with Fear (1998). Pushing public and private even further, she outs her current boyfriend. With the neon Very Happy Girl (1999), she announces his penis size to the world— "22 cm circumference 20." Does size matter? The artwork suggests that indeed it does.

Subjects and storytelling dominate, and Tracey Emin the art star, curiosity, and social warrior is the focus of the work. Her tragic content and survivor sensibility ricochet against the boundaries of public and private and have facilitated her success. The work has been criticized for focusing on the subjects at the expense of developing its form, and it has been linked to earlier, introspective work by American women artists. With these autobiographical stories, viewers— for the most part— have no means to confirm these narratives and are unaware of the potential exaggerations or the possible private information withheld. While calls for truth are inherent in the work, unfortunately we end up with a different kind of layer of exposure and representation.

Who is Tracey Emin? We only know what she shows— and tells— us. Her life becomes artwork and the content becomes media sensation in art magazines and the general press. It just makes one wonder what Emin would need to do to maintain similar levels of sensation— or will the same public fascination occur if she ever sorts herself out? (R. J. Preece)



C. Tracey Emin interview: Art, artist and media coverage (spotlighted interview, including discussion about My bed and media coverage) (2002)

This interview was first published in Sculpture magazine, 21(9), November 2002, pp. 38-43, with the title "Exposed: A conversation with Tracey Emin".

Propelled by explicitly autobiographical works such as Everyone I ever slept with (1995) and My bed (1998), Brit-celebrity “bad girl” Tracey Emin has crossed the boundary from artist to a pop-culture phenomenon. In addition to making and exhibiting art, Emin appears on TV talk shows, celebrity game shows, and fashion shows, does gin advertisements, writes hotel reviews for GQ, and on and on. Further fueled by her Turner Prize nomination (1999) and the multiplying media controversy over [My bed], everyone in Britain knows “that artist,” and she’s been featured and mentioned in London newspapers and tabloids to such a degree that nobody can accurately keep count.


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Over the years, Tracey Emin’s work— including art subjects/revelations such as her abortions, being raped at 13, subsequent sexual consumption, and suicide attempts— has come under ever more scrutiny, with the artist accused by some as blatantly “marketing victimology.” In one way, her work pits the relatively “unknown” artist pursuing personal concerns that Emin once was against what she has become— a high-profile artist facing art-societal pressures with the added responsibilities of public representation. Her 2001 London solo show “You Forgot to Kiss My Soul,” however, was characterized by a more upbeat mood.

Tracey Emin’s current and upcoming solo exhibitions include shows at Lehmann Maupin in New York, Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (UK), and the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. On the book front, Emin has not one, but two monographs, slated to appear this year: one published by Thames and Hudson, and a second by Booth-Clibborn.

R.J. Preece: How would you describe the new emphasis in your work in the White Cube solo show?

Tracey Emin: I thought well, f*** it. They’re gonna slag me off anyway. It doesn’t matter what I make, it doesn’t matter what I do. Basically it’s up to me exactly what I do. I thought, this time I’m just gonna make some things that I like. Instead of having the conviction and the moral ideas behind it, maybe I’ll just let go and make some things— and that’s what the difference was.

So it was far more about making— and it was more formal. Self-Portrait (2001) was a formal idea, a simple metaphor. I had to divide the space up, and “the wall” became a spiral. It was also about where I grew up, because helter-skelters were there. I really like Louise Bourgeois’s towers at the Tate, but I prefer my helter-skelter to look at. Mine’s more like [Tatlin’s] Constructivist tower.

R.J. Preece: What materials do you particularly like to work with?

Tracey Emin: I like poor materials. I couldn’t see myself making a bronze sculpture—it’s not me. I like neon, because it’s moving constantly and like drawing. The chemicals going through the neon turns me on really— it’s sexy.

I like fabrics, but one of the main things with objects is that I really have to love them before I can use them. I have to have the object around me a long time. The little chairs I used in my last White Cube show are ones that my dad bought for me. A sort of a psychometry with objects and things. It’s like the pieces I’ve made are my things. All the materials I use are recycled, they all come from my studio. Downstairs, there were offices made out of really cheap wood. The wood for the helter-skelter came from there.

R.J. Preece: Some recent articles quote you as saying that you don’t necessarily see your work as completely autobiographical, that it’s edited, framed.

Tracey Emin: We all know that truth is different for everyone, depending on their perspective. It’s how I see it. For example, my film Why I Never Became a Dancer, is factual, made into the story to get a narrative, but the reality of it was worse—I was being called a slag on the street. Not just in the dance hall.

R.J. Preece: You are in a unique, high-profile, art-and-media career position. In many ways, you are overly examined and questioned.

Tracey Emin: It’s called “everyone waiting to stick the knife in,” waiting for you to fall.

R.J. Preece: I was speaking to a colleague who thought that you were “re-branding” your work with “You Forgot to Kiss My Soul.” Is it that calculated?

Tracey Emin: Someone else who liked what I did might turn around and say, “She’s reworking and rethinking everything. She could just be making blankets now, and be a lot wealthier.” I’m actually making it difficult for myself.

I wouldn’t call it re-branding. If I get bored with my work, then other people will—it’s that simple. And I’m not gonna get bored with what I’m doing. I’ll struggle and fight and do new things to excite myself—and do it in my own sweet way.

R.J. Preece: What do you think about the writings on your work?

Tracey Emin: I think it’s people paying for their mortgages and paying for their mistresses by writing any old crap about me.

R.J. Preece: Do you read things that are completely factually off?

Tracey Emin: Totally. I could go to a newspaper, and I could sue them for defamation of character, for destroying, well not destroying, my career, but trying to corrupt my career or whatever. Quite easily.

R.J. Preece: Then why don’t you?

Tracey Emin: Because I’m bigger than all that. What’s in yesterday’s newspaper is today’s fish-and-chip paper. If it really affects my life so badly, so personally, then I would.

When it’s really out of order, or something possibly detrimental to my family, or I’m driven to such a level that I know that this can be picked up and repeated again, I will just write or e-mail the newspaper editor. So, in the next day’s newspaper, it might say, “Tracey Emin says this is factually incorrect.”

R.J. Preece: So that’s happening a bit, and I’m not seeing it in your press clippings.

Tracey Emin: Yes, because it might be in next week’s newspaper. But it doesn’t always hurt me. It hurt me when it was going on for four months during the Turner Prize (1999). Four months of being told that your work is shit by all different people was quite difficult, because I know my work isn’t shit. I know that I was a scapegoat. What was being said about me personally was unbearable. The stuff the press gets—I mean like ex-boyfriends selling stories to newspapers or being doorstepped by journalists leading up to the Turner Prize. My mum being telephoned all the time.

With my last show I did six interviews, but those six got diverted and split into, maybe, every single newspaper. That often happens: I haven’t done an interview or given any images, but, with paparazzi photos, the photos look recent and then they put the whole interview together. So, it looks like a new article, and it’s big—when I actually haven’t had anything to do with it.

R.J. Preece: I saw you on television after Gillian Wearing won the Turner Prize in 1997, on a live post-Prize talk show. Your drunken behavior, resulting in your storming off the set, has become part of your history. What do you think about that now?

Tracey Emin: I didn’t even know I was doing it. I was so drunk, I have no memory that I was there. I thought I was around at someone’s house. But I wasn’t rude or offensive to anybody. And I didn’t have a problem—just getting out of that boring talk. I’d heard I was swearing, and I thought, Christ, how embarrassing. My friend made me watch it about six months later, and I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. The only fuss was that I was a woman, drunk on television, who didn’t have a problem.

R.J. Preece: Do you think fame helps or hurts your work?

Tracey Emin: On a personal level, the distracting thing is that I’m really busy. I’m busy doing other things when I should be doing my art. Where it maybe hurts is if a museum has the choice of buying a piece of work that is really boring and really liberal by a very profoundly serious artist “with integrity,” who’d never write a column for a men’s magazine for example or buying mine, the museum will go for them every fucking day. Because if a museum buys my work, they have to justify what they’re doing. The art world establishment doesn’t take me very seriously.

R.J. Preece: So, are you an “outsider” in the art world?

Tracey Emin: No, I’m not. If you’re talking politically, socially, I couldn’t be more central. Gary Hume is my studio partner. My boyfriend is Mat Collishaw. My best friends are Abigail Lane, Gillian Wearing, and Sarah Lucas. My gallerist Jay Jopling and his wife, Sam Taylor-Wood, are my friends. There aren’t many big art events that I don’t get invitations to.

R.J. Preece: Are there certain things with your fame that you didn’t expect?

Tracey Emin: I don’t think I’m famous. I think I’m notorious, I’m known for being that artist. If I’m on the street, they’ll go “Look, it’s Tracey Emin, that artist.” It’s not like I’m Britney f***in’ Spears. I don’t have a limousine driver waiting outside for me. I don’t have a bodyguard, and I don’t have staff [mimicking an upper class accent]. I don’t have four houses, and I’m not a serial killer.

The reason why I’m popular as an artist in this country is because it suits the psyche of the nation at this time. Ten years ago, my work wouldn’t have had any currency, any popularity at all. Before in this country, you had to be accepted. You had to be part of the group. Now it’s probably more trendy to have a problem.

R.J. Preece: I pulled some quotes out of your press clippings. I can show them to you if you’d like.

Tracey Emin: You could cheat and make some up to see if I remember them.

R.J. Preece: (Laughs.) Miranda Sawyer quotes you and writes: “I know people went to laugh at my bed and to jeer at it. Still,” sniffs Tracey, “at least they actually went to see it.”

Tracey Emin: Because of the amount of press attention, people went to see this dirty bed, as if it was a freak show. But when they got there, they saw something else—the bed, stuff on the walls, whatever. For the Tate, it’s the highest attendance they ever received for the Turner Prize show. There was a massive queue, and when you got into my bit, you couldn’t move.

R.J. Preece: So you think that some of the media representation framed it “to go to see a freak show.” Because My bed in New York…

Tracey Emin: The piece in New York was shit, right? I shouldn’t have shown it there. This really gives a lot away. When I set it up, I couldn’t get it to work right because the room was too small, and it made it look like a bed in a bedroom. The bed should have been the other way around. The whole idea was that My bed came out of a bedroom and into another space—that’s what made it art. In Japan, it was absolutely fantastic—in an old rice factory, in a very long room. Coming in, from a distance, it looked beautiful. With the lighting, you wanted to go to it. The bed was two-thirds up, and two neons were in the back—My cunt is wet with fear and Sobasex (both 1998)—they give you the whole idea immediately. There was a noose hanging as well. But when you got to the bed, you realized that it was disgustingly dirty—the slippers, the carpet, the sheets, the knickers— everything. It was the most theatrical show I’ve done. In the Tate, it was okay.

R.J. Preece: With My bed you have a noose hanging overhead...

Tracey Emin: It was up in Japan and New York (at Lehmann Maupin, see review, Section B. above), but not in London. When I was making the bed, I was feeling so suicidal. I wanted something to represent that. I thought a noose would be good because it’s quite sculptural and a thing in itself. I had never tied a noose before, and didn’t know how. It just goes to show that if I was to commit suicide, I’d never hang myself. When I was in Japan, I had a great amount of— not fun— but almost an aesthetic kind of fun trying to make the noose. I enjoyed making it as an object, even though it’s sentimental, dramatic, and over the top.

R.J. Preece: When I saw the noose, I was thinking, “Will this artist be around in three years?” Metaphorically is the noose still there?

Tracey Emin: No, it’s definitely not there, otherwise I’d want to show it with the bed [at the Tate].

R.J. Preece: The Sawyer piece also quotes you as saying: “I don’t understand why people are nasty to me.”

Tracey Emin: I don’t know why. But that quote was picked up by the press brilliantly. You know that “quote of the week” in newspapers? That was one of them. It’s like some art critic who should know better. He writes about my work, putting me and my work down, but then he writes in this bad-cockney way, with affectations in the writing, trying to mimic how I speak.

R.J. Preece: I’ve been thinking, there’s also a British cultural context— in addition to the media context— shaping these writings on your work, and this won’t always be clear to international readers. In one clipping, I read: “Her accent isn’t from Marlborough, it’s from Margate.” I heard later that a Marlborough accent is posh and public school. It strikes me as really odd to frame it in such a way, and what exactly is a Margate accent?

Tracey Emin: In America, they have words like “white trash.” That’s what is meant. They’re saying that I’m very common. With my accent, I’m not supposed to be intelligent. There have been a lot of newspaper articles, maybe hundreds, and the majority of women writers actually take an angle on it, or they try to go into it. With a lot of the men, however, they can be complementary, flattering, or lively. They’re gushing on how much they like me. Sometimes, it’s a bit embarrassing.

Then there are these other men. It’s like this: you’ve worked hard all of your life, you went to Oxford, and you’ve done this and that, and you’re an art critic. Your job is to unravel the “secret” or whatever, and you come across an entity like me. It’s going to piss you off. Because there’s no great secret, what you see is what you get, and anyone can understand what I’m doing. So, it’s almost like I make this critic-person redundant, just by my attitude, and they resent me for that.

It’s that simple.

R.J. Preece: What do you see as your artistic influences?

Tracey Emin: Egon Schiele drawings, Edvard Munch in terms of emotion, German Expressionism, Frida Kahlo, a couple of mates, Gary Hume and Sarah Lucas. I like Bruce Nauman, Vito Acconci. For music, David Bowie definitely. I just started reading again, after not reading for years. Autobiographies, but they don’t really influence me. I just enjoy reading about other people’s lives.

R.J. Preece: What about artists like David Wojnarowicz, or others in America, in terms of autobiography?

Tracey Emin: No. I’d been doing that all the time. Even when I was at college and didn’t know anything, I was making work about myself. My art history stopped at about 1945. It was never about anything else.

R.J. Preece: With the tent, the piece itself is constructed with media sensation in it.

Tracey Emin: That isn’t why I made it though. But I realize it now, and I could never make it again—because I’ve done it, and I was at such a moral high ground as well. I’d think twice about the names I put in it. I spent weeks looking for the perfect tent. Didn’t even think about Mario Merz’s igloos, or Joseph Beuys— didn’t think about that stuff. I just thought, this is the perfect tent, with a perfect lining that I could sew in. I wrote out a list of names of everyone I had ever slept with—it was really difficult—almost like carving gravestones. I was having to go into the recesses of my mind, because the idea of forgetting someone would have failed the whole thing. In 1986, people couldn’t turn on the TV without hearing about AIDS, HIV, and safe sex—and then nothing for years. A couple of my close friends died of AIDS, and so I was quite aware of it. I was thinking that everyone has forgotten it and is shagging everyone. When people go inside the tent, they come out trying to remember everyone they ever slept with. And it worked—from reading the experiences in my life, they started to think about their own.

R.J. Preece: Do you see your work as exploring different focal points? I see a concentration on the choice of subjects, the societal context, in the compositions, and also in your titles.

Tracey Emin: I think about what I do—not whether it will grab attention, but whether it’s aesthetically “right.” I’m calculated, I’m editing and working things out constantly. Like with the blankets, I might draw it out. Making a blanket is like doing a painting. You cut layer and layer, take off a layer, working this, changing this. It takes a long time. When I have an exhibition, I usually arrange it so that if people want to, they can spend two hours there. That way, people who like it don’t feel cheated when they go. I want them to walk into the exhibition space and look low and at other levels and angles. The same with emotions. I want them to be emotionally manipulated, to come out feeling something. I want them to laugh, smile, feel sad. Even if they feel angry, that’s okay.

R.J. Preece: You have several solo shows coming up, and you’re writing a script for a feature film. You also want to design swimming pools. Is there anything else that [readers] should know?

Tracey Emin: The next big sculpture that I’m making is a bridge. In Cyprus, there’s a disused copper mine, and the railway track for the cargo comes down from the mine to the sea. It’s all eroded and gone. For about 200 meters, there’s this rustic and mad, demonic, chaotic, twisted bridge that goes along there. I want to make a representation of that for my show in Oxford—about 20 meters long.

R.J. Preece: You also mentioned something about a novel.

Tracey Emin: A couple of years ago, I was supposed to write a novel— a stream-of-consciousness sort of novel, and I couldn’t think of anything more depressing to do.

R.J. Preece: Why is that?

Tracey Emin: Because I’ve done it. About growing up and that kind of thing. Writing about how terrible it was when I was eight years old. This goes back to your mate who says I’m “re-branding” myself. Maybe I’ve worked so hard to become better, that I don’t have to go back there anymore.

NB. Back story: It took Preece some time to get agreement for this interview. Tracey Emin was reportedly not happy with his review of Emin’s show at Lehmann Maupin, New York, 1999. (See Section B above.) However, after some back-and-forth with her press representative, intention was clarified and the interview was considered an opportunity to relook at things.

NB. In 2009, the interview was listed in the selected bibliography of Tate Modern’s influential Pop Life: Art in a material world exhibition.



D. Essay on Tracey Emin published in Parkett (spotlighted essay, including mention of My bed and media coverage) (2001)

"... the tent and the artist offer great copy generated by the artwork’s contained textual focal points— the artwork’s title, facilitation of a media-genic headline, the description the artwork generates, her brilliant Tracey quotes, and the resultant polarized reactions. In fact, many of her works follow a similar experiential and media path..." (Excerpt from the article.)





"Tracey Emin delivers ’emotional timebomb’ with new exhibition" in 2019. Daily Mail video. I encourage anyone who has not seen this video, to watch it and listen closely starting at 0:24-1:32. When I saw this, I thought Tracey instinctively knows part of Emily Hall Tremaine’s story in 1940 and the anger in Emily’s divorce filing and disclosure.



E.1. Tracey Emin’s My bed in exhibitions


This section is in development


Material status: = online
= link to more info
= completely offline


1990s

1998 - Sagacho Exhibit Space, Tokyo

(10 October - 14 November 1998). Tracey Emin : Sobasex at Sagacho Exhibit Space, Tokyo, Japan.

> Exhibited Tracey Emin’s My bed.

  • See publications section below for related documentation.

1999 - Lehmann Maupin, New York

(1 May - 26 June 1999). Tracey Emin: Every part of me’s bleeding at Lehmann Maupin, New York.

> Exhibited Tracey Emin’s My bed.

  • See publications section below for related documentation.

1999-2000 - Tate Britain, London

(20 October 1999 - 23 January 2000). Turner Prize 1999 at Tate Britain, London.

> Exhibited Tracey Emin’s My bed.

  • See publications section below for related documentation.


2000s

2000 - Saatchi Gallery, London

(13 September - 26 November 2000). Ant Noises 2 at Saatchi Gallery, London.

> Exhibited Tracey Emin’s My bed.

  • See publications section below for related documentation.

2008 - Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

> Exhibited Tracey Emin’s My bed.

  • See publications section below for related documentation.


2010s

2011 - Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

(30 July - 20 October 2011). Saatchi Gallery in Adelaide: British Art Now at Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

> Exhibited Tracey Emin’s My bed.

  • See publications section below for related documentation.

2012-13 - Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt

(1 November 2012 - 3 February 2013). Privacy at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany.

> Exhibited Tracey Emin’s My bed.

2016-17 - Tate Liverpool

(16 September 2016 – 3 September 2017). Tracey Emin and William Blake in focus at Tate Liverpool.

> Exhibited Tracey Emin’s My bed.

  • See publications section below for related documentation.

2017-18 - Turner Contemporary, Margate, England

(13 October 2017 - 14 January 2018). My bed, JMW Turner at Turner Contemporary, Margate, England.

> Exhibited Tracey Emin’s My bed.

  • See publications section below for related documentation.


2020s

2021-22 - Munchmuseet, Oslo

(22 October 2021 - 2 January 2022). Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch: The loneliness of the soul. Munchmuseet, Oslo, Norway.

> Exhibited Tracey Emin’s My bed.

  • See publications section below for related documentation.


The exhibition listing compiled above should largely be considered "leads" for confirmation and not necessarily "facts".


E.2. Tracey Emin’s My bed in publications and related documentation


1990s



Tracey Emin and others on post-Turner Prize 1997 program on Channel 4 (UK).



1997 - spotlighted TV clip - pre-My bed context - Tracey drunk on post-Turner Prize show

(2 December 1997). Tracey Emin and others on post-Turner Prize 1997 program on Channel 4 (UK). [With wraparound introduction by: R. J. Preece. (7 April 2010). Tracey Emin launches her brand.] artdesigncafe.com. (Viewed 25 September 2021).



1998 - exhibition pamphlet - Emin’s My bed in Tokyo exhibition

(1998). Tracey Emin : Sobasex folded sheet. Sagacho Exhibit Space, Tokyo, Japan. (Viewed 24 September 2021. Q00449).

c. 1999 - exhibition webpage - Emin’s My bed in Lehmann Maupin, New York exhibition

(c. 1999). Exhibition webpage for Tracey Emin: Every part of me’s bleeding. Lehmann Maupin, New York. (Viewed 16 September 2021. Q00380).

c. 1999 - press release - Emin’s My bed in Lehmann Maupin, New York exhibition

(c. 1999). Press release for Tracey Emin: Every part of me’s bleeding. Lehmann Maupin, New York. (Viewed 16 September 2021. Q00381).

c. 1999-2000 - exhibition webpage - Emin’s My bed in Tate Britain Turner Prize show

(c. 1999-2000). Exhibition webpage for Turner Prize 1999 [including section on "Media coverage of Tracey Emin’s My bed"]. Tate website. (Viewed 24 September 2021. Q00440).

1999 - spotlighted feature article, photo - Emin’s My bed on view at Tate Britain

Tracey Emin My Bed

Bowness, Mark. (presumably 21 October 1999). Look at the Tate of your bedroom; who needs barmy art exhibition... mum’s got real thing [with photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed with caption: "snooty critics absorbed in Tate exhibit My Bed"; and photo of the messy bedroom of a teenager]. The Sun (London) newspaper. (Viewed 4 October 2021. Q00625-14).

"It’s every mother’s worst headache— keeping their kids’ bedrooms tidy. But now the bigwigs at London’s Tate Gallery have made the job even harder by declaring a rubbish-strewn unmade bed a work of art... ’It makes me so angry to see these so-called artists glorifying a messy bedroom’ ... " (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - spotlighted feature article - Emin’s My bed attacked by performance artists

tracey emin my bed

Gibbons, Fiachra. (25 October 1999). Satirists jump into Tracey’s bed; semi-naked pair "reacting to self-promotion" of art prize entry. The Guardian newspaper. (Hard copy version, with photos of artists jumping onto bed, pp. 4-5.) (Viewed 16 November 2021. Q00625-16(-18); Q00967).

1999 - spotlighted article - Emin’s My bed on view at Tate Britain

Tracey Emin bed


Evans, Richard. (31 October 1999). Art terrorist mum reveals how she cleaned up "dirty" Tate bed; I’ll stop the grot! [With photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed and photos of cleaner / "artist" Chris De Ville starting to clean the bed, then taken away by security]. Wales on Sunday newspaper, two page numbers unknown. [Viewed 16 November 2021. Q00625-27(-28)].

"Cleanliness is next to artiness— well, it is if you’re Chris De Ville, the Swansea housewife turned self-styled art terrorist...

... "’There had been so much on TV, in the papers and on the radio about it, in the end I just snapped,’ said Chris... ’I jumped in the car and went up to London, determined to clean up Tracey Emin’s dirty bed ..." (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.


emin my bed

1999 - spotlighted photo in article

Childish, Billy. (19 December 1999). [Emin’s ex-boyfriend:] "Tracey Emin copied my art, chased me through the town in her nightie then accused me of being gay... and that was when we were in love [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. The Mail on Sunday / Daily Mail, pp. 64-65. (Viewed 16 November 2021. Q00625-54 / Q00625-54b).

"Until last week Tracey and I were still on speaking terms... ’I don’t want you talking to the f****** papers!’ she shouted down the phone at me ...

... I must say that I am pleased for her sake that she didn’t win [the Turner Prize]. In the weeks building up to the announcement of the winner I had never before encountered her quite so puffed up and vitriolic against people she deemed as less than herself. That includes almost everybody, with the possible exception of sycophantic art critics, important galleries and admiring doormats... " (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.


1999 - other articles

See the articles


1999 - photo in article - Emin’s My bed on view at Tate Britain

(3 June 1999). True confessions and coming clean [with photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 1 October 2021. Q00577).

"Always a cause for controversy, this year’s £20,000 Turner’s Prize looks set to follow suit. The four artists shortlisted for the prize include self-confessed mad woman Tracey Emin... " (Excerpt from above.)


1999 - feature article, photo

Edge, Simon. (4 June 1999). She’s a prize troublemaker [with photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed, as installed in previous exhibition in Japan]. The Express (UK), p. 22. (Viewed 16 November 2021. Q00625-44).

"The self-styled bad girl of British art, whose best known work is a tent bearing the names of everyone she had ever slept with, has emerged as a front-runner to win Britain’s premier modern art prize... "; photo caption for photo of Tracey: "Rebel: artist Tracey Emin" (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - feature article, photo

Vasagar, Jeevan. (4 June 1999). An unmade bed, the "bad girl of art"... yes, it’s Turner time [with cropped photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Daily Mail newspaper (UK), p. 38. (Viewed 12 January 2022. Q00625-43).

"... One of the judges, Financial Times Journalist Alice Rawsthorn, insisted Miss Emin had not been chosen to attract publicity. ’We chose her because of her work, not because she is a media personality. Obviously...’" (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - article mention, two photos - Emin’s My bed on view at Tate Britain

(20 October 1999). The Turner Prize draw [with mention and two photos of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 4 October 2021. Q00627).

"... Emin— the self-styled Mad Tracey from Margate— has further inflamed opinion by supplementing her reputedly autobiographical videos, embroideries and sketches with a bed..."

"... The 35-year-old, with her Popeye-style anchor tattoo and famous drunken appearance on live television at a previous Turner Prize ceremony, has become one of art’s biggest celebrities..." (Excerpt from above.)


1999 - feature article, photo - Emin’s My bed at Tate Britain show

Gibbons, Fiachra. (20 October 1999). Scandal sheets envelope Turner Prize [with mention and photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed in Turner Prize exhibition, Tate Britain]. Guardian newspaper (UK), p. 5. [Viewed 12 January 2022. Q00625-41(-42)].

"The bed in which Tracey Emin claims she was drunk and miserable for four days [exhibited] this summer— complete with skid marks on the sheets, menstrual knickers, used condoms and empty bottles of vodka— is the centerpiece of this year’s Turner prize show ..."

"... Brian Sewell, of the London Evening Standard, said he ’would not waste his breath on that woman,’ while the Guardian’s art critic, Adrian Searle, who has praised her work, said that her ’tortured nonsense... and endlessly solipsistic, self-regarding homage’ to herself cannot go on... Critic Matthew Collings, jumped to the defence of Emin’s ’unique genius’... " (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - article mention - Emin’s My bed at Tate Britain

Searle, Adrian. (20 October 1999). Tracey’s pants but McQueen’s the real pyjamas [with detailed mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed on view for the Turner Prize exhibition at Tate Britain, London]. The Guardian (London). (Viewed 7 October 2021. Q00650).

"... This transplanted squalor should come as no surprise. It guarantees attention. At the press view yesterday morning, Emin’s space was packed. And now I’m adding to the column inches, colluding in the game... " (Excerpt from above.)


1999 - article

Moseley, Ray (London). (21 October 1999). Rudy won’t like this, either; "My bed", a finalist for England’s most hyped art prize, might give a certain mayor nightmares [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed, no photo]. Chicago Tribune, p. H10. (Viewed 26 October 2023. S00163).

  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - article, photo

Moseley, Ray (Chicago Tribune) (London). (23 October 1999). Confessional artist’s bedroom scene shakes up annual Tate competition [with photo and mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. National Post (Canada), p. A13. (Viewed 26 October 2023. S00165).

  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - article

Moseley, Ray (Chicago Tribune) (London). (23 October 1999). A very messy bed leads pack for Turner Prize; Emin’s work recall her lonely time of illness past [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed, no photo]. San Francisco Examiner, p. C-6. (Viewed 26 October 2023. S00162).

  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - article

Moseley, Ray (Chicago Tribune; Special to the star) (London). (23 October 1999). New horror shakes British art; competition exhibit a dirty bed, in more ways than one [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed, no photo]. The Saturday Star / Toronto Star (Canada), p. . (Viewed 26 October 2023. S00164).

  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - feature article, photo - pillow fight on Emin’s My bed at Tate

(24 October 1999). Feathers fly at Turner art show [with mention and photo of Tracey’s Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 24 September 2021. Q00445).

"... Two men have been arrested following a pillow fight at the controversial Turner Prize exhibition... It is believed the men in their late 20s jumped onto a bed which was part of an exhibition by young British artist Tracey Emin, and threw bits of the artwork around..." (Excerpt from above.)


1999 - article mention, photo

Moseley, Ray (Chicago Tribune) (London). (24 October 1999). "Obsessively confessional" shock art hits British gallery [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Edmonton Journal (Canada), p. E12. (Viewed 1 November 2023. S00176).

  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - feature article, photo - pillow fight on Emin’s My bed on view at Tate Britain

(25 October 1999). Art attacks: Don’t handle with care [about pillow fight on Emin’s My bed on view at Tate Britain and selected historical works, with photo of performance artist on My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 7 October 2021. Q00652).

"... Already the star exhibit of the Turner Prize exhibition at London’s Tate Gallery, My Bed has been given countless more column inches and airtime thanks to the pillow-fighting antics of two self-styled ’visual artists’ ..." (Excerpt from above.)


1999 - news brief, photo

(25 October 1999). Artists put on a show in Tracey’s notorious bed [with photo of performance artist on Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Daily Post (Liverpool, England), p. 4. (Viewed 20 November 2023. S00403).

  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - photo / caption - pillow fight on Emin’s My bed at Tate

(25 October 1999). Photo / caption: Bed springs ["Yuan Cai bounces on the controversial exhibit My Bed by Tracey Emin at the Turner Prize exhibition at the Tate Gallery..."]. South Wales Evening Post (Swansea, Wales), p. 2. (Viewed 20 November 2023. S00402).

  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - feature article, photo - housewife "outraged" - Emin’s My bed on view at Tate Britain

(25 October 1999). Housewife "outraged" by dirty bed exhibit [about Tracey Emin’s My bed, on view at Tate Britain]. BBC News. (Viewed 28 September 2021. Q00536).

"Christine De Ville from Swansea said she felt ’outraged’ after hearing of the unmade bed on show by artist Tracey Emin which is shortlisted for the Turner Prize... "

"I thought I would clean up this woman’s life a bit," she said..." (Excerpt from above.)


1999 - news brief - Emin’s My bed attacked by performance artists

Atkinson, Steve. (25 October 1999). Feathers fly in art hot-bed [regarding performance artists attacking Tracey Emin’s My bed]. The Mirror (London), p. 7. (Viewed 15 November 2023. S00328).

  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - feature article - Emin’s My bed in Tate Britain exhibition

Morris, Lucie. (25 October 1999). Tate invader cleans up Emin’s art. Scottish Daily Mail (Glasgow, Scotland), unknown page number. (Viewed 12 January 2022. Q00625-24).

"... 42-year-old housewife Chris de Ville took to the bed with a spray can of cleaning fluid... Perhaps mother-of-two Miss de Ville was also hoping for some reflected glory if Miss Emin’s bed does win the Turner Prize. ’Can it still be considered to be all of Tracey’s work?’ she asked.

Later in the afternoon, two ’visual artists’ decided Miss Emin’s exhibit was more a work in progress... Mr. Cai, whose wife and two children watched his ’performance’, said he was not protesting about the controversial bed exhibit but merely wanted to ’explore the idea further’. He added: ’We greatly admire Tracey’s work. We wanted to take the work further." (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - news brief, photo - Emin’s My bed attacked by performance artists

Possibly PA. (25 October 1999). Tate re-opens after art attack [with focus on Tracey Emin’s My bed and photo]. Cambridge Evening News (England), p. 4. (Viewed 1 November 2023. S00174).

  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - article - Emin’s My bed at Tate Britain

Rice, Carol Ann. (25 October 1999). When credibility goes down the pan [critique of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. The Birmingham Post (UK), page number unknown. (Viewed 19 November 2021. Q00625-20).

"If Tracey Emin thinks her unmade bed is a work of art then she should take a look at my fridge, laundry basket and knickers drawer at the end of a working week ...

Slovenliness, it seems, is the new rock ’n’ roll and Ms Emin is well ahead of the game..." (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - article, photo - Emin’s My bed attacked by performance artists

Rice, Dennis. (25 October 1999). Bedlam as pillow fighters turn on the Tate [with focus on Tracey Emin’s My bed and photos of the artwork and Emin]. The Scottish Express (UK), p. 5. (Viewed 1 November 2023. S00175).

  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - article, photo

Shemah, Noah. (25 October 1999). Arrested development after jump into bed-lam [with photo of performance artist on Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Birmingham Post (England), p. 6. (Viewed 20 November 2023. S00404).

Yuan Chi: "Tracey’s work was strong but it wasn’t strong enough. We wanted to develop the idea further. Our action will make the public think about what is good art..." (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - article, photo - Emin’s My bed attacked by performance artists

Wallace, Sam. (25 October 1999). Tate protesters wreck artist’s unmade bed [with photo of Yuan Cai jumping / laying on Emin’s My bed]. Daily Telegraph (London), p. 3. (Viewed 15 November 2023. S00327).

  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - article mention - Turner Prize 1999 exhibition

Reid, T. R. (London). (30 October 1999). "Britpack" strikes again; in London, avant-garde artists wage a new, er, offensive [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed and Andy Warhol’s Marilyn diptych]. Washington Post, p. C5. (Viewed 18 December 2023. Q00196).

"... perhaps it’s just that politicians here recognize that today’s shocking work of art can become tomorrow’s mainstream.

The Tate is making this point in a vivid way during its Turner Prize show this fall. Just down the corridor from Emin’s much-criticized ’My bed’, the curators have hung one of the gallery’s modern treasures, Andy Warhol’s ’Marilyn diptych’ [also spotlighted at artdesigncafe] ..." (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for locations.

1999 - spotlighted review mention - Emin’s My bed in Lehmann Maupin, New York exhibition

Preece, Robert. (November 1999). Tracey Emin at Lehmann Maupin, New York [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Sculpture magazine, 18(10), p. 68. (Viewed 16 September 2021).

  • See section B above on this webpage.

1999 - feature article, photo - Emin’s My bed on view at Tate Britain

(3 November 1999). Emin favourite for Turner Prize [with photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 28 September 2021. Q00537).

1999 - article mention, photo - Emin’s My bed on view at Tate Britain

(14 November 1999). Art award under fire [with mention and photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed and the two performance artists staging a pillow fight on it]. BBC News. (Viewed 24 September 2021. Q00451).

"... Britain’s most prestigious art prize has reportedly been criticised as seeking "controversy for controversy’s sake" by Culture Secretary Chris Smith..." (Excerpt from above.)


1999 - article mention - Emin’s My bed in Turner Prize exhibition, Tate Britain

Brooks, Richard (additional reporting: Adam Nathan). (presumably 14 November 1999). Arts minister blasts lack of art in "dirty sheets" Turner prize [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Presumably The Sunday Times (London), presumably p. 1. (Viewed 9 November 2021. Q00625-11).

"... [Culture secretary Chris] Smith’s intervention has been criticised. ’It sounds to me as if Chris Smith wants a dinosaur park, ’said sculptor Anthony Gormley, who won the Turner prize in 1994..." (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - article mention - Emin’s My bed on view at Tate Britain

(2 December 1999). Head to head: Turner Prize— is it art?; The Times’ Richard Cork and Art Review’s David Lee explain what they believe to be art [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 7 October 2021. Q00651).

"... Given the blanket coverage roused by beaten front-runner Tracey Emin’s in-yer-face stubborn stains, it is an irony that the prize should have gone to an artist who avoided publicity and let his [Steve McQueen’s] work speak for itself... David Lee, editor of Art Review..." (Excerpt from above.)


1999 - article mention - Emin’s My bed in Turner Prize exhibition, Tate Britain

Reynolds, Nigel and Paterson, Michael. (presumably 2 December 1999). Emin is generous in Turner defeat [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed and photo of Tracey holding a glass of wine, smiling with closed eyes, with a long stem rose in her mouth]. Presumably Daily Telegraph, page number unknown. (Viewed 9 November 2021. Q00625-10).

"Her unmade bed may have captured all the Turner Prize publicity... [Emin:] ’I’ve made enough money from the Turner Prize in the last six weeks to buy myself a house and retire’ ..." (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

1999 - article mention

Hazelton, J. L. (Associated Press - Tokyo). (28 December 1999). Controversy, plastic cows fueled arts in 1999 [art news of the year roundup, with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. The Herald (Jasper, Indiana), p. 35. (Viewed 8 October 2021. Q00520).

"... Tracey Emin’s ’My bed’ piece at the Tate Gallery attracted two men who staged a pillow fight atop it, saying they wanted to further her work ..." (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations, or contact area public library.

c. 1999 - quote - Pete Townshend on Emin’s My bed

(c. 1999, specific date unknown). [Quote listing including Oliver Stone, Pete Townshend (on Tracey Emin’s My bed), Henry Rollins, Rowley Leigh]. Time Out (London) , p. 13. (Viewed 4 October 2021. Q00625-09).

"’The only way Tracey Emin can explain why she put a bed in the Tate Gallery is by getting pissed. If she tried to explain it any other way she’d look like a complete prat’ - Pete Townshend" (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.



2000s

2000 - spotlighted article review mention - Emin’s My bed in Saatchi Gallery show

Searle, Adrian. (12 September 2000). Cooked twice and still flavourless; The second instalment of the Saatchi Gallery’s Ant Noises finds Tracey in the money and Damien sticking things behind glass. Nothing new there [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. (Viewed 24 September 2021. Q00450).

"... Displaying Tracey Emin’s My Bed, the centrepiece of Emin’s 1999 Turner prize show, appears premature, as it was last given an airing a mere nine months ago. While the bed had a kind of horrifying theatrical intimacy at the Tate, it looks lost here, and more like the relic of an old art controversy than a revelation of private excruciation. My Bed deserves a bit of a break..." (Excerpt from above.)



2000 - other articles

See the articles


2000 - article mention, photo

(13 April 2000). Emin airs her dirty linen [regarding a new artwork on view in exhibition; with photo and mention of the previous My bed: "... Emin divided the critics after offering a stained, unmade bed and associated debris for her Turner Prize exhibition last year..."]. BBC News. (Viewed 24 September 2021. Q00452).

2000 - article mention

(21 May 2000). Performance artists strike again [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 7 October 2021. Q00653).

"A pair of artists, who sprung to notice by bouncing on an unmade bed entered for the Turner Prize, say they have struck again... Tate Modern gallery... Their target was Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain... The men say they have video footage of their most recent ’performance’ which shows them standing either side of the Fountain, urinating for a minute in front of bemused onlookers... " (Excerpt from above.)


2000 - feature article, photo

(16 July 2000). Tracey makes a pile [reporting on the 2000 sale of the artwork, with photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 25 September 2021. Q00454).

"... Art collector and advertising guru Charles Saatchi has paid £150,000 for Tracey Emin’s controversial work My Bed... He intends to show off his new purchase as part of his Ant Noises exhibition at his north London Saatchi Gallery in September... " (Excerpt from above.)


2000 - article mention

Associated Press (London). (13 August 2000). Royal Academy pushes drawing as way of life [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. The Index-Journal (Greenwood, South Carolina), p. 5C. (Viewed 8 October 2021. Q00521).

"Attention-getting young British artists like Tracey Emin, who exhibited her unmade bed... may have done fine without studying how to draw the human figure ..." (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations, or contact area public library.

2000 - article mention

Dilley, Ryan. (20 September 2000). Art’s shock treatment [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 28 September 2021. Q00538).

"... Tracey Emin’s Turner Prize-nominated "bed"— soiled and strewn with vodka bottles— provoked a wave of criticism last year. This year the newspapers have only half-heartedly attacked her latest work— a beach hut... " (Excerpt from above.)


2000 - article mention

(24 October 2000). Turner shortlist show unveiled [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed, shortlisted previous year]. BBC News. (Viewed 7 October 2021. Q00654).

"... The prize has a tradition of generating controversy... Tracey Emin’s unmade bed made last year’s shortlist... " (Excerpt from above.)




2001 - spotlighted article mention

Preece, Robert. (c. November 2001). Tracey Emin: Artist over— and in— the broadsheets [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. Parkett / (artdesigncafe), pp. 50-4. (Updated 23 November 2021).


2001 articles

See the articles


2001 - article mention

Barber, Lynn. (22 April 2001). Show and tell; Her tent, her bed, her lovers... more than with any other modern artist, it is impossible to separate Tracey Emin from her work. Here, Britain’s supreme art exhibitionist talks to Lynn Barber about families, fear of failure and why one condom is never enough [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. The Observer newspaper (UK). (Viewed 26 September 2021. Q00467).

2001 - article mention

Bushby, Helen. (25 April 2001). Emin’s new show gets personal [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed, which is not in this exhibition]. BBC News. (Viewed 28 September 2021. Q00539).

"Controversial British artist Tracey Emin, famed for her stained, debris-strewn My Bed, is baring her soul again in her first solo exhibition since [1999]..." (Excerpt from above.)


2001 - article mention

(1 June 2001). Stoppard attacks "self-indulgent" art [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 8 October 2021. Q00658).

"... Playwright Tom Stoppard has made a scathing attack on the Young British Artist movement for producing work he said was artless, self-indulgent and without spiritual meaning...

[Stoddard] added, in a reference to artist Tracy [sic] Emin’s exhibit My Bed: "It is but a hop, skip and jump to Tracy’s [sic] knickers." (Excerpt from above.)


2001 - feature article, photo

(13 August 2001). Emin defends her art [with mentions and photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 8 October 2021. Q00656).

"... "If people say it’s a joke or a confidence trick I’d say they’re not very interested in art..." (Excerpt from above.)


2001 - article mention

(15 August 2001). Modern art is a "con", says [Rolf] Harris [with mention and photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 7 October 2021. Q00655).

"... The 71-year-old star, famed for the huge landscape paintings he did for children’s programmes, took a swipe at artist Tracey Emin, and her infamous work My Bed...

... But in an interview earlier this week, Emin hit out at people who criticised her art. "It’s not so easy as everyone thinks," she said... " (Excerpt from above.)


2001 - article mention, photo

Preece, Robert. (c. November 2001). Ein Künstlerin in— und zwishen— den Schlagzeilen [in English "Artist over— and in— the broadsheets"] [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. Parkett, pp.55-60. (Updated 23 November 2021).



2001 - wire service report mention

London. (9 December 2001). Turner prize goes to minimalist artist [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. UPI. (Viewed 8 October 2021. Q006

"... a [former] runner-up, Tracey Emin, captured headlines with an unmade bed and the detritus of a bachelor girl’s dissolute existence... " (Excerpt from above.)





Click to see a graphics and music journalism take on Tracey Emin’s media coverage with Marcus Bering, Kim Min Su, and Stephen Mallinder, formerly in the Cabaret Voltaire band.



2002 articles

See the articles


2002 - article mention

(17 January 2002). Gallery boss blasts concept art [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 8 October 2021. Q00657).

"... Tracey Emin, who found fame with her exhibition of a stained, unmade bed, could not think her way out of a paper bag, Mr Massow said..." (Excerpt from above.)


2002 - photo in article

(18 January 2002). Gallery boss sparks concept art row [with photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 1 October 2020. Q00565).

"... [Ivan Massow, head of the Institute of Contemporary Arts] comments that former Turner Prize nominee Tracey Emin was unable to ’think her way out of a paper bag’ prompted on her to call for his resignation... " (Excerpt from above.)


2002 - article mention, photo

(1 February 2002). Tracey Emin promotes BBC Four [with mention and photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 1 October 2021. Q00564).

"... Emin became a star among Young British Artists with My Bed, her shortlisted entry to the 1999 Turner Prize ..." (Excerpt from above.)


2002 - article mention

(28 March 2002). Emin’s cat posters taken by collectors [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 26 September 2021. Q00468).

"Artist Tracey Emin’s attempt to trace her lost cat has ended with her posters appealing for help being torn down by collectors... The artist is known for her unconventional approach and attracted controversy when her installation, of an unmade bed, was valued at some £150,000..." (Excerpt from above.)


2002 - spotlighted article mention

Preece, Robert. (November 2002). Exposed: A conversation with Tracey Emin [with extended discussion about Emin’s My bed and media coverage; retitled "Tracey Emin interview: Art, artist and media coverage" on artdesigncafe.com; this interview took place prior to the publication of Preece’s feature in Parkett in late 2001]. Sculpture magazine, 21(9), pp. 38-43. (Viewed 16 September 2021).

  • See section C above on this webpage.



2003 articles

See the articles


2003 - article mention

Aitch, Iain. (25 May 2003). For Tracey, home is where the art is...; Tracey Emin and Iain Aitch revisit their home town together - and plot a takeover that would put Margate back on the tourist map [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. The Observer newspaper. (Viewed 26 September 2021. Q00466).

"... Expect the unmade bed to become a Margate B&B standard..." (Excerpt from above.)


2003 - article mention

Alvarez, Lizette. (29 June 2003). What’s doing in London: South side’s calling [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. The Chilliwack Progress (presumably Weekend supplement) (Chilliwack, BC, Canada), pp. 28-9. (Viewed 9 October 2021. Q00518).

"... In April, Charles Saatchi, the advertising magnate, moved his collection of British contemporary art from north London to the massive County Hall... visitors can see... [Tracey] Emin’s unmade, dirty bed..." (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations, or contact area public library.

2003 - article mention

Lane, Harriet. (16 November 2003). Give me Titian, not Tracey; Once he gave us dead sharks and dirty beds. Now Matthew Collings has spurned Britart - and turned to the Old Masters for his new TV series [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. The Observer newspaper. (Viewed 26 September 2021. Q00465).




Click to see a graphics and music journalism take on Tracey Emin’s media coverage with Marcus Bering, Kim Min Su, and Stephen Mallinder, formerly in the Cabaret Voltaire band.



2004 articles

See the articles


2004 - article mention

Wardell, Jane (Associated Press - London). (25 February 2004). Art exhibit at British cathedrals updating images of Christ [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. The Salina Journal (Applause supplement) (Salina, Kansas), p. 4. (Viewed 8 October 2021. Q00519).

"... Works in the ’Presence: Images of Christ for the Third Millenium’ [at St. Paul’s Cathedral] show ... a monoprint of Christ coming down from the cross by artist [Tracey] Emin, who previously outraged critics by presenting her soiled, unmade bed as a masterpiece... " (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations, or contact area public library.

2004 - article mention

Ward, Lucy. (30 March 2004). A £35,000 Tracey Emin quilt— but worthless if school tries to sell it [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Guardian newspaper (London). (Viewed 25 September 2021. Q00455).

"... First it was an unmade bed that plunged her into controversy; now Tracey Emin is engaged in an artistic tug of war with a group of school children over a patchwork quilt..." (Excerpt from above.)


2004 - article mention, photo

(21 April 2004). Emin attacks press "lies" [with mention and photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 24 September 2021. Q00442).

"... ’There are things in the papers that aren’t true, for example, and they really get my back up,’ Emin told BBC World Service’s Masterpiece programme... Her Turner-prize nominated Bed was the place in which she contemplated suicide ..." (Excerpt from above.)


2004 - article mention

(27 May 2004). R.I.P. Tracey Emin’s Tent [referring to the fire which destroyed the artwork; with mention of Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 8 October 2021. Q00659).

"... The tent is survived by its younger sibling, My Bed, a representation of the artist’s unmade bed complete with empty Vodka bottles, cigarette packets and condoms, which was not in the same warehouse..." (Excerpt from above.)


2004 - news brief mention

(30 May 2004). Tracey Emin ["Sunday people"] [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. Mirror newspaper. (Viewed 30 November 2021. Q00985).

"... SHOCK Brit-art queen Tracey Emin... has lost two pieces of her "work" in a warehouse fire. Tracey hit the headlines when Charles Saatchi bought her unmade bed scattered with tampons, scummy knickers and condoms..." (Excerpt from above.)


2004 - article mention

(Presumably 14 July 2004). The fine art of a swift escape [on Stuckist artist Charles Thomson; with mention of Emin’s My bed]. Presumably Daily Mail, presumably p. 39. (Viewed 16 November 2021. Q00626-11).

"BRIT ARTIST Tracey Emin can sleep more easily in her notoriously unmade bed. Her neighbour— and greatest detractor— figurative painter Charles Thomson is moving out of the self-consciously artistic East End of London...

... ’It will be an enormous pleasure to move away from the White Cube, which puts on such bad shows... and no longer fear bumping into Tracey Emin..." (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

2004 - article mention, photo

Boxtas, Senay. (presumably 1 August 2004). Howson attacks conceptual art "bullshit" with satirical drawing [with photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Presumably Sunday Herald, unknown page number. (Viewed 16 November 2021. Q00626-14).

"... ’My happiest day was the burning down of that warehouse [with the Brit Art],’ [Peter Howson] said. ’All art is conceptual, so to call it that is bullshit. I just find it meaningless tosh...’" (Excerpt from above.)


  • See worldcat.org for possible locations.

2004 - article mention, photo

Bush, Kate. (October 2004). Young British art [with photo and mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Artforum. [With scan of article in hard copy, entitled "Kate Bush on the YBA sensation" (October 2004), pp. 103, 105-106, 281, 283]. (Viewed 15 November 2023. S00336).

"... The media has been entertained by Tracey Emin’s drunken histrionics on national television in 1997— then aghast at the state, not to mention the price, of My Bed, 1998... " (Excerpt from above.)


2004 - feature article, photo

Van der Zee, Bibi. (presumably 1 November 2004). Turner [Prize] 2004: 20 years of the Turner prize; Tracey Emin (nominee 1999) [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. The Guardian (London). (Viewed 9 October 2021. Q00699).

"... For an era that appeared to claim nine-tenths of art’s purpose to be provocation, Emin was a genius. Anyone who suggested she was not going to be able to follow up her tent was silenced by My Bed (1999), ...

... It was one of the most famous installations in recent years, sending Daily Mail readers into hurricanes of fury and making 1999 one of the most talked-about Turner prize years ever, although Emin did not actually win..." (Excerpt from above.)




2005 articles

See the articles


2005 - article mention

(27 May 2005). Emin reveals naked self-portraits [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 24 September 2021. Q00443).

"... Emin is famous for her unmade bed and tent containing the names of all the people she has ever slept with..." (Excerpt from above.)


2005 - book review mention

Cusk, Rachel. (16 October 2005). Tracey Emin’s unmade head; This memoir by Brit-art’s great provoker is, like all her work, frank, squalid and romantic [book review of Strangeland, by Tracey Emin (2005); with mention of Emin’s My bed]. The Sunday Telegraph (London), Review section, p. 13. (Viewed 17 December 2023. S00748).

"... It is rather like a written version of Emin’s infamous bed, full of the profanity of the body... " (Excerpt from above.)


  • Search worldcat.org for possible locations.



2006 articles

See the articles


2006 - article mention

(13 July 2006). Battle of Waterloos; BOOZED-UP Brit Artist Tracey Emin attacked a woman guest at a posh party for taking too long in the loo [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. The Mirror (UK). (Viewed 17 November 2023. S00351).

"... Sources claim [Tracey] pulled the unfortunate victim out of the cubicle by her hair, rammed her head against the wall and screamed in her face that she was an ’ugly bitch’ ... Emin caused a furore in 1999 with her work entitled My Bed which was short listed for the Turner prize ..." (Excerpt from above.)


2006 - article mention

(25 August 2006). Emin art show planned for Venice [with mention: "... Emin’s My Bed, a stained, unmade bed, earned a 1999 Turner Prize nomination..."]. BBC News. (Viewed 24 September 2021. Q00441).



2007 articles

See the articles


2007 - photo in article

Honigman, Ana Finel. (10 April 2007). Intelligent art is a foolish concept [with photo caption and presumed photo previously of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. The Guardian newspaper. (Viewed 26 September 2021. Q00469).

2007 - article mention

(13 April 2007). Artist Emin unveils cryptic flag [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 24 September 2021. Q00444).

"... It is not the first time the artist, best known for her unmade bed, has featured flags in her work ..." (Excerpt from above.)


2007 - article mention

(8 June 2007). I’m in the bed with Tracey Emin...; Exclusive[:] wild woman of Brit Art bares her soul (and her body) to us [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. The Mirror (UK). (Viewed 17 November 2023. S00354).

"BLEARY-EYED Tracey Emin is reclining next to me on crisp white sheets, wearing nothing but a quilt... There’s no sign of the stained sheets, cigarette butts, dirty undies, empty bottles of booze and general mess that characterise one of the controversial artist’s best-known exhibits, ’My Bed’..." (Excerpt from above.)


2007 - article mention

James, Clive. (29 June 2007). Why money can’t buy everything [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 26 September 2021. Q00474).

"... Tracey’s bed; ... What I am sure of is that I have inhabited beds in far worse condition than Tracey’s. But Tracey’s bed is the one we all know..." (Excerpt from above.)




2008 - book proposal (unrealized)

Preece, R. J. & Emin, Tracey. (2008). Tracey Emin bites back (2008) (book proposal). (Viewed 25 September 2021).

"The following is a book proposal, enabling Emin to lash out at badly behaving journos and set the record straight. But the celebrity artist was too busy to respond to it..." (Excerpt from above.)



2008 articles

See the articles


2008 - news brief, photo - Emin’s My bed in Scottish National Gallery show

(6 August 2008). Tracey’s bed on show again [with photo of Emin’s My bed; artwork in Scottish National Gallery exhibition]. KentOnline website (with associated newspapers) (county in England). (Viewed 13 December 2021. Q01000).

"... [The exhibition] charts the controversial artist’s career from the late 1980s to the present day and features examples of Emin’s work including paintings, drawings and her infamous unmade bed installation... " (Excerpt from above.)


2008 - article mention, photo - Emin’s My bed in Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art show

(8 August 2008). Art for art’s sake [with mention and photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BBC News (Magazine section). (Viewed 25 September 2021. Q00458).

"A point of view; Is an unmade bed art? ... Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh this month to see the Tracey Emin retrospective. On view are her unmade bed... " (Excerpt from above.)


2008 - article review mention - Emin’s My bed in Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art show

Cumming, Laura. (10 August 2008). It’s time you made that bed, Tracey [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. The Observer. (Viewed 24 September 2021. Q00453).

"Tracey Emin: 20 Years is an assault of a show. There is no escape from the agony... The galleries are crammed with martyr’s relics.. the famous bed with its stained knickers and stubbed fags... " (Excerpt from above.)




2009 - spotlighted article - Emin quotes across UK print media

Preece, R. J. (16 December 2009). Tracey Emin quotes: Media coverage— unity and variety; Have you ever seen an artist stitch quotes through UK media? Nobody does it better than Tracey.... [with quote referring to Emin’s My bed and seven print media placements]. Art Design Publicity at ADC. (Viewed 9 November 2021).

"... ’It looks brilliant. He’s got [My Bed] in the silver room, surrounded by silver goblets, silver trays and silver plates. It’s on a beautiful Persian rug. The whole thing looks totally baroque and mad.’ — Tracey Emin in the Evening Standard (West End Final), 13 Nov 2002. At the time, My Bed was installed in Charles Saatchi’s home..." (Excerpt from above.)



2009 articles

See the articles


2009 - article mention

Mackay, Don. (28 April 2009). Roger Hiorn’s Blue crystal flat features among 2009 Turner Prize nominees [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed in 1999]. The Mirror (UK). (Viewed 17 November 2023. S00357).

"... The Tate-backed prize, in its 25th year, often attracts controversial entries such as Tracey Emin’s Bed in 1999." (Excerpt from above.)


2009 - article mention

Sawyer, Miranda. (24 September 2009). Tracey Emin: Art’s wild woman opens her art about drawing on tough life experiences for her work [with mention of My bed]. The Mirror (UK). (Viewed 17 November 2023. S00356).

"Most people think of artist Tracey Emin as a wild woman. After all, she appeared on TV spectacularly drunk. She displayed her (extremely mucky) bed as a piece of art and sewed the names of everyone she ever slept with between 1963 and 1995 inside a tent..." (Excerpt from above.)




2010s

2010 - spotlighted music journalism presentation - Emin quotes across UK print media

Bering, Marcus; Kim, Min Su; Mallinder, Stephen. (9 February 2010). Tracey Emin art & media across the UK; Shocked Beyond belief by her media coverage, here’s just the very fine tip of the iceberg of the UK’s addiction to Tracey [with two quotes referring to Emin’s My bed and 18 print media placements, set to Cabaret Voltaire’s Big funk]. Art Design Publicity at ADC. (Viewed 9 November 2021).

"... ’Immaculately clean and always made. I turn the duvet over halfway so the bed can breath[e]. I plump and fluff the pillows and straighten out the sheet’ — Tracey in the Wigan Evening Post, 12 May 2004..." (Excerpt from above.)



2010 articles

See the articles


2010 - article mention

(4 July 2010). Tracey Emin: My breasts are work of art after boob job [with mention of My bed]. The Mirror (UK). (Viewed 17 November 2023. S00355).

"... Exhibitionist Tracey, 46, famous for sharing her unmade bed with the world, had the op after her boobs kept growing..." (Excerpt from above.)


2010 - article mention

Pettifor, Tom. (4 October 2010). Turner Prize in another mess as art bosses try to ban bad publicity [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed (in 1999)]. The Mirror (UK). (Viewed 17 November 2023. S00358).

"... The modern art exhibit has a history of controversy after Damien Hirst once won the prize with a dead sheep and Tracey Emin displayed her slept-in bed... " (Excerpt from above.)


2010 - article mention

Higgins, Charlotte. (1 December 2010). Tracey Emin collaboration with Louise Bourgeois to go on show in London; British artist worked with Bourgeois before her death in May to produce the Do Not Abandon Me collection [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed, not in the exhibition]. The Guardian (UK). (Viewed 25 September 2021. Q00457).

"... The British artist famously showed an unmade bed for the 1999 Turner prize exhibition and has recently earned arguably even more notoriety by voting Conservative in the last election and proclaiming that under the coalition ’we’ve got the best government … we’ve ever had’..." (Excerpt from above.)




2011 - spotlighted news brief, photo

(c. 30 July 2011). Saatchi exhibition at AGSA [Art Gallery of South Australia; with photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed, and mention in exhibition in Adelaide, Australia]. ABC News (Australia). (Viewed 30 November 2021. Q00983).


2011 articles

See the articles


2011 - article mention

(17 May 2011). From controversy to "queasy": Tracey Emin admits feeling embarrassed about her work ahead of new exhibition [with photo and mention of Emin’s My bed]. Daily Mail (UK). (Viewed 15 November 2023. S00323).

2011 - article mention

Reade, Brian. (19 May 2011). Tracey Emin.. just say the word [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. The Mirror (UK). (Viewed 17 November 2023. S00359).

"TRACEY Emin says she wants the words "f*** me while I’m sleeping" carved on her ­headstone. Funny that, because I’ve often thought if I had to share her bed they are the words I’d have painted on my forehead..." (Excerpt from above.)


2011 - article mention

Ward, Ossian. (27 May 2011). Tracey Emin: No bedtime story [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. ARTnews. (Viewed 4 November 2021. Q00870).

"... we’ve become almost intimately acquainted with Emin’s universe through cathartic, autobiographical works such as her embroidered tent, Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–95 (1995), and My Bed (1998), as well as through her numerous writings, performances, profiles and interviews... " (Excerpt from above.)


2011 - article mention

(14 December 2011). Tracey Emin to become Professor of Drawing at RA [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 4 November 2021. Q00869).

"... The artist is perhaps best known for her installations— an unmade bed, or slogans spelled in neon lights— but has won praise for her line drawings..." (Excerpt from above.)


2011 - article mention, photo

Enoch, Nick. (14 December 2011). Uproar at the Royal Academy as Tracey Emin is made Professor of Drawing [with mention and photo of Emin’s My bed]. Daily Mail newspaper (UK). (Viewed 5 November 2021. Q00878).

"She achieved fame with her soiled unmade bed, and a tent stitched with the names of everyone she slept with, but now Tracey Emin is heading in a new direction— as a professor... " (Excerpt from above.)




2012 articles

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2012 - article mention

Davies, Carol. (25 May 2012). Tracey’s sexy seaside show [with mention of Emin’s My bed; which is not in the Emin exhibition at Turner Contemporary, Margate, then on view]. KentOnline website (with associated newspapers) (county in England). (Viewed 20 December 2021. Q01042).

"Acclaimed artist Tracey Emin returns to her home town to launch her first exhibition at the Turner Contemporary gallery... Miss Emin, whose notable works include... My Bed, said: ’This show is a homecoming for me’ ..." (Excerpt from above.)


2012 - article mention

Price. Chris. (25 May 2012). My home is where the art is [on exhibition of Tracey’s work at Turner Contemporary, Margate, which did not include Emin’s My bed, which is mentioned in the article]. KentOnline website (with associated newspapers) (county in England). (Viewed 20 December 2021. Q01043).

"Tracey Emin, Margate’s most famous daughter, has finally come home to display a collection of her art in the town where she grew up, at the gallery she supported from the off... And in the same way her Turner Prize nominee My Bed put her on the tabloid map in 1999, Tracey is laying her whole life to bare more than ever in this latest collection of works..." (Excerpt from above.)


2012 - article mention

Brown, Mark. (26 May 2012). The Saturday interview: Tracey Emin [with mention of Emin’s My bed, which is not in the profiled exhibition of Emin’s work at Turner Contemporary, Margate, England]. The Guardian newspaper (UK). (Viewed 25 September 2021. Q00462).

"... [The works on view] mark a farewell to the old Emin – the wild child, the one that got drunk all the time, the sex, the bed, the tent. Her "animal" lust has gone. Now there is the new Emin..." (Excerpt from above.)


2012 - news brief mention

(29 December 2012). Artist Tracey Emin among those awarded in Queen’s new year’s honours lists [with mention of Emin’s My bed: "The Margate-born artist - famous for her unmade bed artwork - has been awarded... "]. KentOnline website (with associated newspapers) (county in England). (Viewed 30 December 2021. Q01104).

2012 - article mention

(29 December 2012). Artist Tracey Emin appointed CBE [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 25 September 2021. Q00464).

"... In 1999, Emin was shortlisted for the Turner Prize and exhibited one of her most famous works, The Bed, at the Tate Gallery... " (Excerpt from above.)




2013 articles

See the articles


2013 - article mention

(10 January 2013). Tracey Emin appointed CBE by Queen Elizabeth II [with mention of My Bed]. Untitled magazine. (Viewed 15 November 2023. S00325).

"... Following this critically acclaimed exhibition, Emin presented her infamous installation “Bed” at the Tate Gallery for which she was shortlisted for the Turner Prize..." (Excerpt from above.)


2013 - article mention, photo

Jones, Liz. (21 April 2013). A life more Eminent: Tracey Emin opens up her intimate photo memoir— and tells Liz Jones why her "not always palatable" past has shaped her life’s work [with mention and photo of Emin’s My bed]. Daily Mail (UK). (Viewed 10 October 2021. Q00706).

"... She has endured as a conceptual, autobiographical artist – she was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1999, the year she showed My Bed at the Tate ..." (Excerpt from above.)


2013 - article mention, photo

Hastings, Chris. (21 April 2013). Tracey Emin: I never had children because I’d resent leaving my studio for them [with mention and photo of Emin’s My bed]. Daily Mail newspaper (UK). (Viewed 10 October 2021. Q00707).

"... In an interview for today’s You magazine, Emin, 49, best known for My Bed— featuring bed linen stained with bodily secretions— tells Liz Jones she would have resented having to leave her studio to look after children. ..." (Excerpt from above.)









2014 - spotlighted music journalism presentation (related, above)

Bering, Marcus and Mallinder, Stephen. (15 October 2014). Sleepwalker sculpture media coverage overload vs. Theme from Wrangler (embedded visualization above). artdesigncafe. (Viewed 23 November 2021).

Editor R. J. Preece: "This presentation was very much inspired by the media coverage chaos around Tracey Emin’s My bed in a UK context, which was my first deep analysis. The research on mass media coverage continued, including several "Art Design Publicity" media coverage compilations, and analysis regarding Damien Hirst’s diamond skull, For the love of God. Fifteen years later after Emin’s My bed at the Tate, in 2014, after researching Tony Matelli’s Sleepwalker multi-lingual media coverage, the visualization above resulted, projecting a feeling of a certain malaise of the volume and diversity of the story going through various filters globally, along with a better ability to track that movement.

This visualization was done by artist Marcus Bering, in close consultation with me, and musician Stephen Mallinder formerly of the Cabaret Voltaire band, a personal inspiration of mine, he personally offered the accompanying music." (23 November 2021).




2014 - auction webpage - My bed sold at Christie’s London

(c. 1 July 2014). Tracey Emin, My bed, 1998 [sold for £2,546,500]. Christie’s London, website [with photo of Emin’s My bed, exhibition list, and selected publications list]. (Viewed 5 November 2021. Q00882).

2014 - TV interview, BBC Newsnight - Emin’s My bed to be auctioned

Paxman, Jeremy. (c. 27 May 2014). Tracey Emin interview [video of broadcast; focused on My bed to be auctioned]. Newsnight / BBC News. (Viewed 5 November 2021. Q00881).

2014 - spotlighted wire service article

(London). (28 May 2014). British artist Tracey Emin’s "My Bed" heads for auction. Reuters. (Viewed 22 September 2021. Q00419).

"... Tracey Emin’s “My Bed”, complete with cigarette butts, crumpled sheets and underwear, is up for auction for the first time ..." (Excerpt from above.)


2014 - spotlighted interview

Outred, Francis. (May 2014). My bed, 1998: Tracey Emin in conversation. Christie’s website. (Viewed 5 November 2021. Q00882).

"... FO: You often refer to My Bed and Everyone I Have Ever Slept With, 1965-1993, as your ’seminal works’. Could you explain what effect these works have on your practice? How has your practice evolved?
TE: Well they changed my life. It’s that simple. And they changed other people’s..." (Excerpt from above.)



2014 articles

See the articles


2014 - news brief, photo

Heward, Emily. (27 May 2014). Tracey Emin’s ’unmade bed’ could fetch £1.2m as Charles Saatchi puts it up for sale [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. The Mirror (UK). (Viewed 17 November 2023. S00350).

2014 - feature article, two photos, video - Emin’s My bed auctioned at Christie’s

(Photos: Getty Images). (27 June 2014). Tracey Emin "hopes" bed artwork will go to museum [with two photos and video of Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 10 October 2021. Q00705).

[Tracey Emin:] "In Japan they were shocked by my dirty slippers but they stole some bloody knickers and some condoms," she said.

"In America it was like: ’Yeah, we’ve seen feminist art before, we’ve done it already’. No fuss— they just treated it like a regular artwork.

"In the UK, it exploded with the Turner Prize. It just went crazy." (Excerpt from above.)


2014 - announcement w/ embedded video

Macpherson, Amy. (27 June 2014). Tracey Emin talks about "My bed" [at Christie’s, London, with photo of the artwork]. Royal Academy of Arts, London website. (Viewed 15 November 2023. S00321).

2014 - feature article, two photos - Emin’s My bed sold for £2.5m at Christie’s, London

(1 July 2014). Tracey Emin’s My Bed artwork sold for [£2.5m] at auction [with two photos of My bed, one with Emin]. BBC News. (Viewed 25 September 2021. Q00463).

2014 - news brief, photo - Emin’s My bed sold at auction for GBP2.5m

(1 July 2014). Tracey Emin artwork My Bed sold at auction for [£2.52m] [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. KentOnline website (with associated newspapers) (county in England). (Viewed 13 December 2021. Q01001).

"... The artwork generated considerable media furore, particularly over the fact that the bedsheets were stained and the floor had items from the artist’s room, such as condoms, a pair of knickers..." (Excerpt from above.)


2014 - feature article, photo, video - Emin’s My bed at auction

(1 July 2014). Tracey Emin says bed contains "ghost" of her past [at Christie’s London auction; with photo and video of Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 5 November 2021. Q00879).

2014 - feature article, two photos - Emin’s My bed sold at auction

ANP / AP photo / AFP photo. (1 July 2014). 3,1 miljoen voor met afval omgeven onopgemaakt bed [rough translation: "3.1 million euros for unmade bed surrounded by rubbish"; with two photos of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Algemeen Dagblad newspaper (The Netherlands). (Viewed 5 November 2021. Q0088 ).

2014 - feature article, two photos - Emin’s My bed sold at auction

ANP / AP photo / AFP photo. (1 July 2014). 3,1 miljoen voor met afval omgeven onopgemaakt bed [rough translation: "3.1 million euros for unmade bed surrounded by rubbish"; with two photos of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. BN De Stem newspaper (Breda, The Netherlands). (Viewed 5 November 2021. Q00884).

2014 - feature article, two photos - Emin’s My bed sold at auction

ANP / AP photo / AFP photo. (1 July 2014). 3,1 miljoen voor met afval omgeven onopgemaakt bed [rough translation: "3.1 million euros for unmade bed surrounded by rubbish"; with two photos of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Brabants Dagblad newspaper (Den Bosch, The Netherlands). (Viewed 5 November 2021. Q00885).

2014 - feature article, two photos - Emin’s My bed sold at auction

ANP / AP photo / AFP photo. (1 July 2014). 3,1 miljoen voor met afval omgeven onopgemaakt bed [rough translation: "3.1 million euros for unmade bed surrounded by rubbish"; with two photos of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Eindhovens Dagblad (Eindhoven, The Netherlands). (Viewed 5 November 2021. Q00886).

2014 - feature article, two photos - Emin’s My bed sold at auction

ANP / AP photo / AFP photo. (1 July 2014). 3,1 miljoen voor met afval omgeven onopgemaakt bed [rough translation: "3.1 million euros for unmade bed surrounded by rubbish"; with two photos of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. De Gelderlander newspaper (Nijmegen, The Netherlands). (Viewed 5 November 2021. Q00888).

2014 - feature article, two photos - Emin’s My bed sold at auction

ANP / AP photo / AFP photo. (1 July 2014). 3,1 miljoen voor met afval omgeven onopgemaakt bed [rough translation: "3.1 million euros for unmade bed surrounded by rubbish"; with two photos of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant (Vlissingen, The Netherlands). (Viewed 5 November 2021. Q00887).

2014 - feature article, two photos - Emin’s My bed sold at auction

ANP / AP photo / AFP photo. (1 July 2014). 3,1 miljoen voor met afval omgeven onopgemaakt bed [rough translation: "3.1 million euros for unmade bed surrounded by rubbish"; with two photos of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. De Stentor newspaper (Zwolle, The Netherlands). (Viewed 5 November 2021. Q00889).

2014 - feature article, two photos - Emin’s My bed sold at auction

ANP / AP photo / AFP photo. (1 July 2014). 3,1 miljoen voor met afval omgeven onopgemaakt bed [rough translation: "3.1 million euros for unmade bed surrounded by rubbish"; with two photos of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Twentsche Courant Tubantia (Twente, The Netherlands). (Viewed 5 November 2021. Q00890).

2014 - article

Begley, Sarah. (1 July 2014). This dirty bed just sold for $3.77 million [at Christie’s, London] [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. Time magazine. (Viewed 8 November 2023. S00231).

2014 - feature article, photo - Emin’s My bed at auction

Best, Jessica. (1 July 2014). Tracey Emin’s "unmade bed" sells at auction for [£2.5] million [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. The Mirror. (Viewed 30 November 2021. Q00984).

2014 - article - Emin’s My bed sold at auction

Ellis-Petersen, Hannah. (1 July 2014). Tracey Emin’s Bed is sold at auction for over £2.5m; Hundreds pack Christie’s auction house in central London for sale of 1998 installation that documents relationship breakdown [with photo of Emin in front of My bed]. The Guardian (London). (Viewed 15 November 2023. S00329).

"Tracey Emin’s installation, My Bed, which documents the artist’s traumatic relationship breakdown, sold for £2.54m at Christie’s auction on Tuesday..." (Excerpt from above.)


2014 - article

(29 July 2014). Tracey Emin’s My Bed set for long Tate loan [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. BBC News. (Viewed 8 November 2023. S00232).

2014 - news brief

Presumably ANP. (29 July 2014). My Bed van Emin langdurig uitgeleend aan Tate [rough translation: "Emin’s bed on long-term loan at Tate"]. De Telegraaf newspaper (The Netherlands). (Viewed 30 November 2021. Q00982).

2014 - feature article, three photos

ANP (AFP photo). (30 July 2014). My Bed van Emin langdurig uitgeleend aan Tate [rough translation: "’My Bed’ by Emin on long-term loan to the Tate"(by artwork owner Christian Dürckheim-Ketelhodt; with three photos of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Nu.nl . (Viewed 20 December 2021. Q01041).

2014 - article mention, photo

Letts, Quentin. (17 October 2014). Tracey Emin’s vulgar show proves the art luvvies are dragging civilisation backwards [focused on exhibition which doesn’t include Emin’s My bed, although article includes a photo and mention]. Daily Mail newspaper (UK). (Viewed 5 November 2021. Q00880).

"... Miss Emin was once best known for swearing on television, getting drunk, boasting about her sexual conquests and making a fortune from her ’artwork’ of an unmade bed soiled by used condoms... [Photo caption:] She displays contempt for anything which is pleasing to the eye, while she happily pockets millions of pounds" (Excerpt from above.)


2014 - photo, video accompanying article

Buxton, Olivia. (23 November 2014). "It upsets me when people go on about women who are childless as if they are worthless": Inside the head of... Tracey Emin [with photo and video of Emin’s My bed]. Daily Mail newspaper (UK). (Viewed 5 November 2021. Q00883).

2014 - article

Mallonee, Laura C. (29 December 2014). Art Sherlock questions whether Tracey Emin really slept in that bed [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. Hyperallergic website. (Viewed 15 November 2023. S00324).




2015 - spotlighted wire service news brief

Lawless, Jill (London). (30 March 2015). Tracey Emin’s messy bed installed at Tate Britain. Associated Press. (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00331).


2015 articles

See the articles


2015 - news brief, photo

Associated Press (London). (30 March 2015). Tracey Emin’s messy bed installed at Tate [Britain] [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tennessee). (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00332).

2015 - news brief, four photos

Associated Press (London). (30 March 2015). Tracey Emin’s messy bed installed at Tate Britain [with four photos of Emin’s My bed]. Daily Mail (UK). (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00345).

2015 - news brief, three photos

Associated Press (London). (30 March 2015). Tracey Emin’s messy bed installed at Tate [Britain]; The world’s most famous messy bed has gone on public display, 15 years after it caused an art-world sensation [with three photos of Emin’s My bed]. WFMY (CBS channel 2) (Greensboro, North Carolina). (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00333).

2015 - feature article, seven photos, two videos

Glanfield, Emma. (30 March 2015). "I make my bed every day!" Tracey Emin insists she’s actually ’really OCD’ as her messy installation— surrounded by used condoms and dirty knickers— returns to the Tate [with seven photos and two videos of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Daily Mail (UK). (Viewed 25 September 2021. Q00456).

"... My Bed became notorious when it was shortlisted for the Turner Prize and displayed at Tate Britain in 1999. Now, 15 years later, it is back at the gallery on a long-term loan for at least 10 years..." (Excerpt from above.)


2015 - news brief

Lawless, Jill (Associated Press - London). (30 March 2015). No napping: Tracey Emin’s messy bed goes on display at London’s Tate Britain. The Chronicle Journal (Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada). (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00347).

2015 - news brief, photo

Lawless, Jill (Associated Press - London). (30 March 2015). No napping: Tracey Emin’s messy bed goes on display at London’s Tate [Britain] [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. CityNews (Halifax) (660AM radio) website. (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00341).

2015 - news brief, photo

Lawless, Jill (Associated Press - London). (30 March 2015). No napping: Tracey Emin’s messy bed goes on display at London’s Tate [Britain] [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. CityNews (Kitchener) (660AM radio) website. (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00342).

2015 - news brief, photo

Lawless, Jill (Associated Press - London). (30 March 2015). No napping: Tracey Emin’s messy bed goes on display at London’s Tate [Britain] [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. CityNews (Ottawa) (660AM radio) website. (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00343).

2015 - news brief, photo

Lawless, Jill (Associated Press - London). (30 March 2015). No napping: Tracey Emin’s messy bed goes on display at London’s Tate Britain [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. The Daily Courier (Kelowna, BC, Canada). (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00348).

2015 - news brief, photo

Lawless, Jill (Associated Press, London). (30 March 2015). No napping: Tracey Emin’s messy bed goes on display at London’s Tate Britain [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. infotel.ca (Kamloops, Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon, BC, Canada). (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00338).

2015 - news brief, photo

Lawless, Jill (Associated Press - London). (30 March 2015). No napping: Tracey Emin’s messy bed goes on display at London’s Tate Britain [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. Penicton Herald (Penicton, BC, Canada). (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00349).

2015 - news brief, photo

Lawless, Jill (Associated Press - London). (30 March 2015). Tracey Emin’s famous messy bed goes on display at Tate; British artist Tracey Emin’s My Bed, a legacy of her wild days, goes on display at Tate Britain gallery. Toronto Star (Canada). (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00337).

2015 - news brief, photo

Lawless, Jill (Associated Press - London). (30 March 2015). Tracey Emin’s messy bed installed at Tate Britain [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. KSL-TV (Salt Lake City, Utah). (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00346).

2015 - news brief

Lawless, Jill (Associated Press - London). (30 March 2015). Tracey Emin’s messy bed installed at Tate Britain. San Diego Union-Tribune (California). (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00339).

2015 - news brief, photo

Lawless, Jill (Associated Press - London). (30 March 2015). Tracey Emin’s messy bed installed at Tate Britain [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. Washington Times (Washington, DC). (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00330).

2015 - news brief

Presumably Associated Press (London). (30 March 2015). No napping: Tracey Emin’s messy bed goes on display at London’s Tate [Britain]. CityNews (Calgary) (660AM radio) website. (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00340).

2015 - news brief

Presumably Associated Press. (30 March 2015). No napping: Tracey Emin’s messy bed goes on display at London’s Tate [Britain]. CityNews (Vancouver) (660AM radio) website. (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00344).

2015 - feature article - Emin’s My bed returns to Tate Britain

EFE. (31 March 2015). Tracey Emin celebra el regreso de su cama deshecha a la Tate Britain [in English, rough translation: "Tracey Emin celebrates the return of her unmade bed to Tate Britain [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. El Mondo newspaper (Madrid, Spain). (Viewed 10 October 2021. Q00704).

2015 - article, six photos

Siddall, Liv. (31 March 2015). Nice process video from Tate on how Tracey Emin installs her Bed [with six photos of the artwork]. It’s Nice That website. (Viewed 15 November 2023. S00326).

2015 - news brief

(Unspecified news agency) (London). (31 March 2015). Messy bed on display at Tate [regarding Tracey Emin’s My bed installed at Tate Britain]. Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario, Canada). (Viewed 16 November 2023. S00334).

2015 - article - My bed on view at Tate Britain

Mead, Rebecca. (6 April 2015). Two beds and the burden of feminism [with photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. New Yorker magazine. (Viewed 15 November 2023. S00322).

2015 - article

Lloyd, Sophie. (23 June 2015). What Tracey Emin’s bed did for feminism [with photo of My bed]. Untitled magazine. (Viewed 15 November 2023. S00320).

c. 2015 - article

Meis, Morgan. (c. 2015). The Empty Bed: Tracey Emin and the persistent self [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. Image journal. (Viewed 8 November 2023. S00228).

"... My Bed has also refused to bugger off, showing up at galleries and museums around the world for more than fifteen years... " (Excerpt from above.)




c. 2016 - exhibition webpage - Emin’s My bed in Tate Liverpool show

(c. 2016). Exhibition webpage for Tracey Emin and William Blake in focus [with mention and photo of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Tate Liverpool. (Viewed 24 September 2021. Q00447).


2016 articles

See the articles


2016 - article mention

Dunn, Connor. (23 March 2016). Artist Tracey Emin has married a rock [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. KentOnline website (with associated newspapers) (county in England). (Viewed 16 December 2021. Q01019).

"An artist raised in Margate has shocked the world once again... by wedding a rock..." (Excerpt from above.)


2016 - article mention

Whitlock, Leo. (14 June 2016). Margate: Tracey Emin backs the campaign to remain [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. KentOnline website (with associated newspapers) (county in England). (Viewed 16 December 2021. Q01018).

"Margate’s Tracey Emin is backing the campaign for the UK to stay in the EU.... Emin was known as enfant terrible of the Young British Artists in the 1980s and is famously known for her work My Bed..." (Excerpt from above.)


2016 - feature article, four photos - Emin’s My bed in Tate Liverpool exhibition

Jones, Jonathan. (16 September 2016). Tracey Emin makes her own crumpled bed and lies in it, on Merseyside [with two photos of Tracey Emin with My bed in Tate Liverpool exhibition, and two other related photos]. Guardian newspaper. (Viewed 30 December 2021. Q01103).

"... Emin builds her bed as if she were painting an expressionist scene – which is, today, exactly what she does spend a lot of time doing... It looks ’baroque’, she comments as she drops a pair of tights in – and she’s right. It looks like a bed painted by Caravaggio..." (Excerpt from above.)




2017 articles

See the articles


2017 - article mention

Gosling, Francesca. (9 October 2017). Tracey Emin reveals she’s not had sex in six years as she opens up about being "permanently single" [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. The Mirror (UK). (Viewed 17 November 2023. S00360).

"... The 54-year-old British artist, best known for her groundbreaking 1998 installation My Bed that faced audiences with a scene of used condoms and dirty underwear, said that choosing to abstain from physical relationships in recent years has helped to keep her emotionally healthy..." (Excerpt from above.)


2017 - feature article, two photos, video - Emin’s My bed at Turner Contemporary, Margate

(12 October 2017). Emin’s "unmade bed" on display in hometown of Margate [with two photos of Tracey Emin’s My bed and video of the artist installing the artwork at Turner Contemporary, Margate, England]. BBC News. (Viewed 10 October 2021. Q00703).

"... ’It’s so strange. There’s been stages where parts of it are my life and then I’ve really kind of let go now,’ she said..." (Excerpt from above.)


2017 - feature article, photo - Emin’s My bed at Turner Contemporary, Margate

Abrams, Amah-Rose. (13 October 2017). Tracey Emin’s bed joined by Turner’s turbulent seascapes in Margate; New show at Turner Contemporary brings together artists who both once lived in seaside town [with photo of Emin and My bed]. Art Newspaper. (Viewed 24 September 2021. Q00448).

"... Alongside My Bed are three oil paintings and 11 watercolours by Turner, selected by Emin and the Tate curator and Turner specialist David Blayney Brown. ..." (Excerpt from above.)


2017 - article, two photos - My bed at Turner Contemporary, Margate

Rea, Naomi. (13 October 2017). "Turner was a really raunchy man": Tracey Emin on why her infamous "My bed" is really like a J. M. W. Turner painting; The unexpected connections have inspired a new show in Margate [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. artnet.com. (Viewed 8 November 2023. S00233).

c. fall 2017 - article, photo - Emin’s My bed at Turner Contemporary, Margate

Ballantyne-Way, Duncan. (c. fall 2017). Tracey Emin’s My Bed— A glimpse into the debased lifestyle of a despairing artist [with photo of Tracey Emin with My bed]. fineartmultiple.com. (Viewed 15 November 2023. S00335).



2018 articles

See the articles


2018 - article mention

Convery, Stephanie. (20 March 2018). Tracey Emin’s featherlight touch: "I’m being gentle, I’m not being macho"; The artist says her new public art project, perching bronze birds through central Sydney [, Australia], is a corrective against "ego-based" installations "that take over everything" [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. The Guardian newspaper. (Viewed 25 September 2021. Q00461).

"... Emin’s work is often very emotionally driven, raw, cathartic... consider her 1998 installation My Bed... the work comprised of Emin’s own bed and the detritus that had accumulated around and within it after the artist inhabited it for several days in a depressive state..." (Excerpt from above.)


2018 - article mention

(9 April 2018). Tracey Emin "was sexually assaulted by well-known female artist" and says she then "threatened to punch her attacker’s lights out" [with mention of Emin’s My bed, and embedded video of Tracey talking about My bed]. Daily Mail newspaper (UK). (Viewed 9 Octobe 2021. Q00701).

"... Tracey Emin has claimed that she was sexually assaulted by a fellow well-known female artist... Emin, whose best-known pieces include 1998’s My Bed - an unmade bed that represented four days in her life when she contemplated suicide ..." (Excerpt from above.)


2018 - article, photo

Cohen, Alina. (30 July 2018). Tracey Emin’s "My bed" ignored society’s expectations of women [with photo of My bed]. artsy.net. (Viewed 1 November 2023. S00179).



2019 - spotlighted article mention

Rouse, Alisha and Linning, Stephanie. (5 February 2019). Tracey Emin says she "raped herself" by giving away too much about her life as she revealed personal details through artwork at the start of her career [with mention of Emin’s My bed, and the artwork with Emin in embedded video]. Daily Mail newspaper (UK). (Viewed 10 October 2021. Q00702).

"... Emin, best known for works like My Bed and Everyone I Have Ever Slept With, has never shied away from exploring themes of rape, sex and sexuality in her work..." (Excerpt from above.)



2019 articles

See the articles


2019 - article mention

Fox, Laura. (27 September 2019). Tracey Emin, 56, puts on a VERY animated display as she dances up a storm in a black silk dress for anniversary bash [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. Daily Mail newspaper (UK). (Viewed 9 October 2021. Q00700).

"... The famous creator of the Tate Gallery display My Bed pulled her brunette tresses into a messy up-do as she finished her look with a matching black silk blazer..." (Excerpt from above.)


2019 - article mention

Britcher, Chris. (28 September 2019). Turner Prize: History of the art award as the exhibition opens in Margate [with photo and mention of Tracy Emin’s My bed]. KentOnline website (with associated newspapers) (county in England). (Viewed 1 November 2023. S00180).

"... Margate artist Tracey Emin is probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but her classic My Bed made everyone stop and have a jolly long hard think about just what constitutes ’art’ in this day and age..." (Excerpt from above.)


2019 - feature article, two photos, videos

Takac, Balasz. (13 October 2019). How art imitates life in Tracey Emin’s bed [with two photos and video showing Emin’s My bed]. Widewalls magazine (London). (Viewed 9 November 2021. Q00932).

"... A few scholars even made a parallel between the practice of Tracey Emin and Louise Bourgeois, who based her oeuvre on personal experiences and explorations of the female body and sexuality, while the press made a comparison to the French artist Sophie Calle, known for producing artworks based on personal emotional and sexual struggles..." (Excerpt from above.)


2019 - spotlighted article

Czub, Julia. (5 December 2019). The story of Tracey Emin’s bed is being turned into a comedy; "In Bed with Tracey Emin" will be one-off surreal special exploring how the artist created her iconic work [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. Dazed & Confused magazine. (Viewed 13 December 2021. Q0099 ).

"... is set to star Morgana Robinson as Emin... In Bed with Tracey Emin will air on Sky as part of Urban Myths, a series that features ambiguous stories from the history of pop culture... " (Excerpt from above.)




2020s

2020 articles

See the articles


2020 - article mention

Searle, Adrian. (3 December 2020). Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch: The Loneliness of the Soul review— moments of horror [at the Royal Academy of Arts, London; mention of Emin’s My bed]. The Guardian. (Viewed 25 September 2021. Q00459).

"... In London, the show occupies three rooms. When it goes to Oslo next summer, it will also include Emin’s My Bed ..." (Excerpt from above.)


2020 - article mention, photo

Glass, Nick. (12 December 2020). After fighting cancer, Tracey Emin returns to the art world with raw, emotional works [with mention and photo of Emin’s My bed, not in two exhibitions in London including her artwork on view]. CNN. (Viewed 30 September 2021. Q00550).



2021 - exhibition webpage - Emin’s My bed in Munchmuseet, Oslo exhibition

(2021). Exhibition webpage for Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch: The loneliness of the soul [including Emin’s My bed]. Munchmuseet, Oslo, Norway. (Viewed 17 September 2021. Q00382).


2021 articles

See the articles


2021 - article mention

Jones, Jonathan. (11 January 2021). So bad it’s good: do all great artists need a vice? [With mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. Guardian newspaper (UK). (Viewed 25 September 2021. Q00460).

"... Many great artists have at least one major vice that gets them out of the everyday and into a more intense imaginary place... And Tracey Emin’s bed is scattered with evidence of her bad habits in the 1990s: used condoms, drained bottles and joints, although she says those belonged to a boyfriend. But do all great artists need a vice?... " (Excerpt from above.)


2021 - article mention

PA News. (24 March 2021). John Cleese says NFT boom is "completely absurd" as he offers drawing of his own [with mention of Tracey Emin’s My bed]. KentOnline website (with associated newspapers) (county in England). (Viewed 17 December 2021. Q01021).

"... I’ve always had a certain scepticism about modern art ... Citing the example of Tracey Emin’s 1998 work My Bed, Cleese added: ’I mean, when you have an unmade bed and everyone says, "What a wonderful piece of art". Well, you didn’t have to go to an art gallery to look at an unmade bed....’ " (Excerpt from above.)


2021 - article mention

Randell, Louise. (9 April 2021). Tracey Emin finally free of cancer after fears she would die before Christmas [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. The Mirror (UK). (Viewed 17 November 2023. S00353).

"... Tracey— famed for her messy bed art installation— also revealed she’s undergone life-saving surgeries in a bid to beat the cancer including a full hysterectomy..." (Excerpt from above.)


2021 - article mention

Dyson, Jack. (5 May 2021). Margate artist Tracey Emin "happy to be alive" after cancer battle [with mention and photo of Emin’s My bed]. KentOnline website (with associated newspapers) (county in England). (Viewed 16 December 2021. Q01020).

"... And on Woman’s Hour this morning, the artist best known for her pieces My Bed and Everyone I Have Ever Slept With, compared the operation she had to endure to gender reassignment..." (Excerpt from above.)


2021 - photo in article

Waite, Thom. (6 May 2021). Tracey Emin has "never been so happy" following "dramatic" cancer surgery; In an interview with BBC Woman’s Hour, the artist discusses her treatment and how it altered her outlook on life [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. Dazed & Confused magazine. (Viewed 13 December 2021. Q00999).

2021 - article mention

Hurst, Brogan-Leigh. (7 May 2021). Tracey Emin had half her vagina removed in brutal surgery to cure aggressive bladder cancer [with mention of My bed]. The Mirror (UK). (Viewed 17 November 2023. S00352).

"... The 57-year-old, who is known for her controversial work including Everyone I Have Ever Slept With and My Bed, appeared on BBC’s Woman’s Hour with Emma Barnett on Wednesday when she detailed exactly what went on during the surgery..." (Excerpt from above.)


2021 - article mention

Baker, Sam. (19 June 2021). Tracey Emin, 57, looks happy as she braves the rain to meet a friend for lunch... three months after revealing her bladder cancer has "gone" [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. Daily Mail (UK). (Viewed 13 December 2021. Q00998).

"... Tracey, known for her controversial works including Everyone I Have Ever Slept With and My Bed, told Emma Barnett on Woman’s Hour last month that she’d ’never been so happy’ following her recovery from the illness...." (Excerpt from above.)


2021 - feature article, photo

Shaw, Anny. (19 August 2021). Thatcher and tampons: How Tracey Emin came to sell her unmade bed to Charles Saatchi [with photo of Emin’s My bed]. Art Newspaper. (Viewed 30 September 2021. Q00549).

"... When Saatchi asked Emin why she had refused to sell him her work, Emin replied that it was because he had put Thatcher in power. To which Saatchi replied: ’My girl… I do ad campaigns for everything… even Tampax.’ Emin retorted: ’Well you should have stuck to tampons , it would have been more honourable.’ ..." (Excerpt from above.)


2021 - article mention

McNay, Anna. (2 September 2021). Peeled From a private life: Tracey Emin’s new bronzes [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. Sculpture magazine. (Viewed 7 November 2021. Q00911).

"Tracey Emin shot to fame when My Bed (1998) was shown at London’s Tate Gallery in 1999 as one of the shortlisted works for the Turner Prize. The sheets marked with bodily secretions, the used condoms, and the menstrual-stained underwear sent critics into an uproar, and a media furor ensued..." (Excerpt from above.)




2022 articles

See the articles


2022 - article, photo

(21 June 2022). The impact of Tracey Emin’s My Bed [with photo of the artwork]. Artsper magazine. (Viewed 8 November 2023. S00230).

2022 - article, photo

Lesso, Rosie. (23 July 2022). Who Is Tracey Emin? Once one of the most controversial artists of all time, Tracey Emin is now a firm favorite with the British art establishment [with mention and photo of My bed]. The Collector website. (Viewed 17 December 2023. S00747).

2022 - article, photo

Graf, Stefanie. (19 November 2022). 10 artworks that made Tracey Emin famous; Tracey Emin is known for creating intimate pieces inspired by her personal experiences. We explore 10 of her best-known artworks [with mention and photo of My bed]. The Collector website. (Viewed 17 December 2023. S00746).



2023 articles

See the articles


2023 - article, photos

Lesso, Rosie. (3 January 2023). Why did Tracey Emin’s bed cause such a sensation? Tracey Emin’s bed is one of the most controversial artworks ever made. But why was a humble bed so shocking and attention grabbing? The Collector website. (Viewed 17 December 2023. S00744).

2023 - article mention

Nayyar, Rhea. (16 November 2023). Can Tracey Emin help restore the reputation of the British Museum? "I love everything Egyptian," the artist said after she joined the embattled museum’s board of trustees [with mention of Emin’s My bed]. Hyperallergic website. (Viewed 17 December 2023. S00745).

"... Some of [Emin’s] most iconic pieces include ’My Bed’ (1998), an installation consisting of her actual stained and disheveled bed surrounded with objects like empty alcohol bottles, soiled underwear, and condoms following a four-day depressive episode..." (Excerpt from above.)




n. d.

undated material

See the articles


n. d. - Wikipedia entry

(undated). "My Bed" entry. Wikipedia.org. (Viewed 1 November 2023. S00178).

n. d. - artwork page

(undated). My bed (1998) by Tracey Emin, artwork page. White Cube gallery website. (Viewed 8 November 2023. S00229).

n. d. - My bed webpage

(undated). Tracey Emin. My bed (1998) artwork webpage. Tate website. (Viewed 1 November 2023. S00177).

n. d. - various photos of Emin’s My bed

(undated). "Tracey Emin my bed" photos. alamy.com. (Viewed 8 November 2023).






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