tracey emin carves women portraits for NPG's new doors in london

45 portraits that ‘represent every woman’ cover the three new entrance doors of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London. Hand drawn by British artist Tracey Emin and cast in bronze, The Doors (2023) were unveiled ahead of the gallery’s opening on June 22, 2023; together, these portraits of women counterbalance the sculpted roundels, carved into the gallery’s façade, depicting prominent male figures from history. Known for her autobiographical and confessional body of work across various media, Emin pours her poignant and equally poetic vision into this major commission, triggering raw introspection and soul-searching among visitors.

The Doors (2023) by Tracey Emin at the National Portrait Gallery | image © Olivier Hess

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

one of 45 panels from The Doors (2023) by Tracey Emin, in situ | image © Olivier Hess

Central to the NPG‘s new forecourt, Ross Place, and vision, Tracey Emin’s low-relief bronze panels are a celebration and representation of women from different walks of life, known and unknown — mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends. More specifically, the panels are the artist’s contemporary response to the under-representation of women in historical art collections. The Doors (2023) now steadily contrasts the Portland stone busts carved into the building’s façade, which depict 18 male biographical writers, historians, and eminent artists from history, including Horace Walpole, Hans Holbein the Younger, Sir Anthony van Dyck, and Sir Joshua Reynolds and give this imposing public space a very human touch.

Reworking the surface of the clay before casting the panels in bronze at an East London foundry, Tracey Emin’s finger and thumbprints remain visible in metal, revealing the making process of her portraits of women for The Doors (2023). Originally painted in acrylic on paper, the drawings were then meticulously transcribed onto the bronze panels.

British artist Tracey Emin in her studio | image © Harry Weller

The artist will join Dr. Nicholas Cullinan, director of the National Portrait Gallery, in conversation on Friday, 23 June 2023, to discuss her new commission and the building’s reopening. More than 50 works acquired and commissioned during the Gallery’s closure will be displayed when the National Portrait Gallery reopens on 22 June, substantially enhancing the representation of women across its collection.‘ Important historic loans and acquisitions have enriched our galleries, such as the earliest large-scale portrait of an English woman and one of the first large-scale portraits of a single individual in he UK, Lady Margaret Beaufort (circa 1510), and the self-portrait of the Victorian miniaturist Sarah Biffin (circa 1820), who was born without arms and legs. Increased since closure, 36% of portraits on display across the Gallery will be of women, rising to 48% in post-1900 galleries,’ shares NPG.

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the artist’s sketches of the women portraits laid out in position | image © Harry Weller

drawing of woman that was cast in bronze | © Tracey Emin

drawing © Tracey Emin

project info:

name: The Doors (2023)

drawings: Tracey Emin

commissioned by: National Portrait Gallery | @nationalportraitgallery