Name: Tracey X Tracey
Brand: Tracey Emin
Rating: 5 (233 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of Tracey Emin's Tracey X Tracey (signed) is estimated to be worth between £1,750 and £2,600. This etching print, created in 2005, has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 24%. This work has an auction history of 13 total sales since its entry to the market in October 2008. In the past 12 months, the average selling price was £1,300 across 1 sale. Over the past five years, the hammer price has ranged from £650 in June 2020 to £1,700 in September 2022. The average return to the seller over the past five years has been £1,112. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 200.

Auction Date

Auction House

Location

Hammer Price

Return to Seller

Buyer Paid

October 2024

Forum Auctions London

United Kingdom

September 2023

Tate Ward Auctions

United Kingdom

July 2023

Tate Ward Auctions

United Kingdom

July 2023

Tate Ward Auctions

United Kingdom

June 2023

Dorotheum, Vienna

Austria

June 2023

Bonhams Knightsbridge

United Kingdom

March 2023

Bonhams New Bond Street

United Kingdom

Meaning & Analysis

This surreal and intensely personal etching was created by Tracey Emin in 2005. At the centre of a white paper background two figures - a girl and a woman - are printed in blue ink, sitting on wooden chairs. The two sketchily rendered figures are joined by a singular line of red ink, which knots together above their heads. Underneath this central composition are the title of the work, Emin’s signature, and the number of the edition, all written by Emin herself

Since her rise to fame in the 1990s, Emin has been labelled the “enfant terrible” of the Young British Artists. Emin has been called this by critics and collectors ever since, partly because of her controversial practice, and partly because of the preservation of youthful wonder in her work. Tracey X Tracey is an instance in which we truly see the artist as this “enfant terrible”.

Sitting on two wooden chairs rendered in blue ink are a young girl and a woman. The title of the work itself makes clear the identities of these two sitters: on the left is an imagined self-portrait of Emin during girlhood, and on the right another self-portrait of Emin in adulthood. Joined together by a coiled line of red ink, Emin makes clear the blood bond between the child and adult. Through this lifeline that unites the two Traceys, Emin pronounces the indelible ties between one’s childhood experiences and adulthood. Much like her entire body of work, Tracey X Tracey is testament to Emin’s lifelong existence as an artist, constantly referring to past and present selves to make her confessional and poignant work.