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Tracey EminBilly and Traci in a Pub, unique woodcut, pencil signed and inscribed, Framed1984
1984
$49,750
£37,457.17
€43,520.23
CA$70,048.65
A$78,039.21
CHF 40,940.51
MX$953,168.76
NOK 518,384.89
SEK 485,769.50
DKK 324,843.61
About the Item
Tracey Emin,
Billy and Traci in a Pub, 1984
Woodcut in dark blue on Japon paper, signed and inscribed 'lots love Traci xx' in pencil on the backboard, printed by the artist
This is quite an art historical find!
Between 1982 and 1985, the artist Tracey Emin was in a famously tempestuous and obsessive relationship with the English visual artist, poet and musician Billy Childish. This autobiographical work, pencil signed and titled by Tracey, was created in the midst of their romance. As history is written by the winners, and today Tracey is far more successful by orders of magnitude than Billy, the narrative that’s taken hold is that she was his muse and a great influence on his work. But far truer is the influence he had on her work: it was immeasurable, even if she’s not one to ever give credit to anyone except deceased historical art world legends like Edvard Munch or J.M.W. Turner - where her association with them benefits Tracey far more than them. But when Tracey first met Billy Childish, he was the established artist and she was the up-and-comer. Years later, I remember finding an interview where he complained, somewhat snarkily, that Tracey’s immensely popular romantic and sappy textiles (which now sell for many thousands of dollars) were borrowed directly from him, or rather, his mum, if memory serves. (I’ll try to dig up the reference, but needless to say, his old interviews about Tracey are a lot of fun!) And if you look at the present Tracey Emin self-published woodcut, gifted to Billy during the height of their romance, the influence of his art on her work is unmistakable. In fact, much of her work at the time and indeed going forward looks strikingly like Billy’s work – and you’d even be forgiven if you thought it was his.
The present pencil signed Tracey Emin work, titled “Billy and Traci in a Pub”, was purchased by the previous owner directly from Billy Childish. At first we thought the fact that Billy let it go, rather than keeping it for old times’ sake, was a statement about his feelings for Traci. But then we realized he must have sold it simply because he needed the money. They all did back in the day. (And if only for that reason alone, who wouldn’t wish they still had it today?) When we acquired this work, it was still in the artist’s original 1980s frame, which was cheap and dilapidated, and not up to conservation standards. So we had it professionally re-framed in a museum quality contemporary wood frame under conservation UV plexiglass – and it looks terrific. There appears to be another artwork on the back of this work, or perhaps even another aborted woodcut, so the framer created a large plexiglass window in the back to reveal that as well.
Measurements:
framed
28.75 inches (vertical) by 23.75 inches (horizontal) by 2 inches
Artwork:
21.75 inches by 16.5 inches
In a 2003 interview, here’s what Billy said about Tracey’s behavior post-break up:
"I was on the verge of being helped by certain people," Childish explains. "Tracey, who had had a bit of success at the time, told her boyfriend about me, and he wanted to do me a big favour. Tracey had told him about Hangman Books [Childish’s imprint] and about all that had gone on and where a lot of her influences and ideas had come from, and he said he would try to help put on a big exhibition -- a bit like this Aquarium one -- at the South London Gallery. They went along to the gallery to speak to the people and everything was ok. But then they offered Tracey the exhibition time they were trying to give to me, and she felt unable to resist -- which is in character, shall we say…. "On one level, Tracey knows it's good to be honourable and fulfil things and acknowledge roots," says Childish. "But on another level, she thinks that simply offering to help is enough, and I should be grateful for that. The sentiment is enough for her, and action isn't needed. After that, I would say the wrong thing at the wrong time, time and time again. Those people don't need to have a conscience around so I was… removed."
Of course, now that they’re both older and wiser and at least one of them – Tracey - is much more famous, pathologically obsessed with her legacy and anxious to appear magnanimous, the “official” story is that they remain good friends. I kind of miss the good old days, truth be told, when people were a lot more freewheeling with their thoughts, but there’s too much at stake these days to be otherwise.
That said, here’s a somewhat sanitized 2024 dissection of Billy’s and Traci’s romance, as published in Britain’s Guardian newspaper:
“Bill Lewis – Billy Childish’s great friend and collaborator in the Medway Poets and other endeavours since 1978 – says that Tracey Emin and Billy Childish are two people who should never have been together, romantically. You will not find anybody who knows either who disagrees with this assessment. And yet, Billy Childish and Tracey Emin were romantically together between 1982 and 1985. What is indisputable is that Emin was a great muse for Childish, first in the many paintings, book covers and record sleeve artwork he produced of them together, continuing to echo through songs contained on the 150-odd albums he’s released since their meeting, as well as a subject within dozens of poetry collections and autobiographical novels. And that Childish was also the defining influence on Emin’s future art. He was her first love. What’s also true is that after Emin was nominated for the Turner prize in 1999, they didn’t speak to each other for 10 years. We will now consider the two primary eyewitness statements to their relationship.
TRACY:
“When I first met Billy, it was in 1982. Our friend Arthur had a party. When Billy turned up, I hid underneath a table. He sort of pulled me out by my leg and asked my name. He thought I said Dolli. Billy always called me Dolli. We spent ages talking because Billy’s really funny and I’m quite irreverent. We kept in touch and he came to see me in Margate at Easter. We just started seeing each other.
I write lots of letters, so I wrote him a lot. And he sent me lots of records and stuff, even before our first proper date. Billy didn’t have a telephone, so he used to have to go to a telephone box in Chatham train station. It sounds so old-fashioned, but this is 1982. Billy was only 21, 22. I was just 18. Billy was a larger-than-life character, very forthright and formidable. In that respect, Billy was a really good influence. He really pushed me to do fine art, because I always wanted to but I didn’t have the qualifications to do a degree. I was also a big influence on him. Billy knew that I was creative: that’s why he was attracted to me. He used me as like a muse for years, even while we weren’t together any more. Billy loved the way that I looked and the way that I was. Whether he was painting or drawing me, it wasn’t like he just thought I looked nice; he liked the energy as well. Billy was focused on really quite traditional art. I liked expressionism and abstract art. Billy was very particular about what he liked. His art that he liked was the same as his music: Lead Belly, blues, rock’n’roll, two-beat. It had to be figurative and clearly defined. I was a lot more messy than that. We were really fiery together. We looked like we’d just walked off a film set.
Billy couldn’t cope with just having one relationship. He liked to have multiple relationships, and this was very hurtful. He always kept his diary by his bed, and he always used to say to me, “Are you going to read it?” and I’d go, “no”, and Billy knew I never lied about anything. I never read it in a whole year. Anyway, Billy’s dad never used to like me. Billy’s dad visited his mum and we were there. I had to hide. Billy’s dad didn’t like anybody. I was in bed and I finished my book and I lay there for ages. Then I picked up his diary. I turned the first page and the first thing it said was he’d married his ex-girlfriend while he was with me. That was end of 1982. I was beyond devastated. It wasn’t like he’d fucked someone: he’d gone and married someone! That was one of the worst things that anyone has ever done. He got up in the morning on his birthday – I stayed at home with his mum and made him a cake – and he went and got married. Then he came home and spent the night with me. I don’t think he slept with her. They did it to get a council flat in Brixton. I was hysterical. I wouldn’t talk to Billy. Billy said to me, “You read it, didn’t you?” I came back down to Margate. I don’t know how I left Billy. I can’t believe I actually did it, because he had such a hold on people. Billy would say: “But I’ve told you the truth.” He’d sleep with someone on tour. He’d come back, tell me and go: “Well, I told you the truth.” Like the truth made up for what he did wrong. He gave me gonorrhoea, sleeping with a whore in Hamburg. And that kind of fucked up everything for me. It meant that I never had children. The gonorrhoea was pretty horrific.
There was a lot about Billy that I liked, and I got a hell of a lot out of our relationship. What is amazing is that over 40 years later, we’re still in touch and we still care about each other. We’re still friends. Of course, there was over a decade when we didn’t talk! There were 14 years that we didn’t see each other. When we saw each other, I said to Billy: “Oh, your moustache is pretty big.” He said: “Not as big as yours.” It was so funny. It was like I’d seen him the day before.
He’s such a better person than he was. He’s kind, he’s considerate, he’s gentle, he’s a Buddhist. I think looking back on everything he wrote about me, if he could rewrite it, he would. Because it’s pretty misogynistic. There’s some people who will dismiss Billy because of that. But Billy’s apologised. It was the beginning of the 80s, it wasn’t like now, where people have a lot more conviction about their moral compass. Billy was so fucked up from his childhood.
Now the relationship between us is really good. I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t. I always [said] “no comment” because I wouldn’t say bad things about Billy because I understand that we were both very young, and it was very complex. Billy and I both had complicated childhoods and we clung together.”
BILLY:
“I’d been expelled from Saint Martin’s for publishing supposedly obscene poetry, late 81. I was meant to be at art school in London. My father had gone to prison for drug smuggling and I couldn’t afford to go in. I was also doing my poetry and my painting at home. That was when I met Tracey. We were not contemporaries. I’d already done the Pop Rivets, I was already in the Milkshakes, we had made a few albums, done John Peel sessions. The Medway Poets did a reading for Television South one day. After, there was a party in Gillingham. There was this girl with an amazing figure who talked to me. I asked her name. She said: “Tracey”; I thought she said Rosie. She knew who I was. We walked back from Gillingham. We slept in the bed, and she was content with that.
I then went on tour in Germany. I was still with my girlfriend, who I did later marry. When I got home there were eight or nine long letters from Tracey: we used to call them “Tales of the Unexpected”. They were all about herself. I went down to Margate. She lived with her mother and her grandmother above a fried chicken shop. And we became an item. She used to write to me every day. She was 100% obsessed with me. I found her very attractive and I was also very attracted to the fact that she was so obsessed with me. But she was one of the most clinging, difficult people. I know how harsh that sounds, but I’m just telling you the truth. I was someone who had been denied love or adoration, had been told: “You’re ugly and unattractive.” So to be totally the focus of someone, someone who was really into sex, was fantastic. My problem was the psychology, and that is why I married my other girlfriend, because I got on with her and I wanted someone I could talk to, because Tracey doesn’t do intimacy in that way.
I never lied to Tracey. I believe in truth more than anyone. But she said that line to me, which I used as a title of a poem: “I’d rather you lied.” She didn’t want to know about anything to do with my true behaviours or desires. How can you have a real relationship with someone who’d rather you lied to them? So I wrote in notebooks instead and, of course, she read the notebooks. I’d have told her if she hadn’t asked me not to.
I split up with Tracey [in 85]. We remained friends until 1991. We went to an art thing which I hated. I was on the cover of Artscribe and Tracey said everyone was jealous. Tracey tried to get me to go along to these things and I said: “I’ve avoided cocaine people in music, and I’m not about to start meeting them in art.” She got in with them anyway. I was allowed to have my opinions until she was nominated for the Turner prize [in 1999]. Then she rang up: tell Billy he’s no longer my friend. She didn’t speak to me for 10 years, until I had my major breakthrough as an artist and she got in touch with me the next week! She sent a letter congratulating me and wanting to meet up, saying we’ve been friends for 30 years. And I thought: “What the hell?” I didn’t like not being friends with her because I like being friends with everyone.
Since we’ve been in contact again, I keep her at arm’s length. I love Tracey and care about her but she’s full of nonsense, and I’m not interested in her obsession with herself or how clever she thinks she is. The other thing with Tracey is, she didn’t speak to me for 10 years. Now, if Tracey says: “I didn’t talk to you for 10 years because you were a rotten boyfriend, you gave me VD, you’re a fucking arsehole and I was angry”, then you’d have the basis of: “Do you want to go forward as friends?” But it didn’t happen, so how do you go forward? I don’t mind being blamed. Then, at least there’d be a semblance of reality. It is really dangerous for me not to know what is happening. In my family, no one said what was really going on: that’s caused me to require everything to be clearly designated. That might be the psychological reasoning behind my crazy output and my crazy requirement for facts and truth….”
- Creator:Tracey Emin (1963, British)
- Creation Year:1984
- Dimensions:Height: 21.75 in (55.25 cm)Width: 16.5 in (41.91 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Very good original condition with no issues; natural possible toning to the margins as expected; newly framed in contemporary wood museum frame under UV plexiglass; ships framed.
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1745216784912
Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin was born in Croydon, in South London, in 1963, and raised in Margate, Kent. She studied fashion at the Medway College of Design (now the University for the Creative Arts) from 1980–82. At Medway, she met Billy Childish, who would become a huge inspiration for her work, and became closely associated with The Medway Poets. During this time, Emin became the administrator for Childish’s small printing press, Hangman Books.
In 1984 she went on to study printing at Maidstone Art College. In 1983, Emin opened a shop with fellow artist Sarah Lucas, called The Shop in Bethnal Green. The Shop sold works by Emin and Lucas, including original t-shirts and ashtrays featuring iconic artist Damien Hirst.
In November 1993, Emin held her first solo show at White Cube in London. She named her autobiographical exhibition “My Major Retrospective,” which largely consisted of personal photographs, photos of her own early paintings that she had destroyed, and a few emotionally charged items such as a packet of cigarettes her uncle was holding when he was decapitated in a car crash.
In 1994, Emin toured the United States, making stops en route with partner Carl Freedman to give readings from her autobiographical book Exploration of the Soul. In 1995, Emin produced her famous “tent” — Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995 — which was exhibited in Freedman’s curated show “Minky Manky” at the South London Gallery. This piece was later bought by Charles Saatchi and included in the acclaimed 1997 “Sensation” exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, going on to tour Berlin and New York.
Emin appeared on a Channel 4 television series in 1997 titled Is Painting Dead? that largely comprised a discussion over the Turner Prize. Two years later, in 1999, Emin was shortlisted for the Turner Prize herself and exhibited My Bed at the Tate Gallery. In the same year, she exhibited a number of monoprint drawings inspired by Princess Diana for an exhibition at The Blue Gallery, London.
Elton John and George Michael are both famed collectors of Emin’s work, with Michael holding the “A Tribute to Tracey Emin” exhibition in September 2007 at the Dallas-based Goss-Michael Foundation. A solo exhibition, “This is Another Place,” was held at the Modern Art Oxford from 2002–03, and in 2007, Emin was included in the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The same year, Emin was made Royal Academician by the Royal Academy of Arts. She has previously been invited to include works at the Royal Academy “Summer Exhibitions” dating back to 2001. Emin curated the 2008 “Summer Exhibition” and gave a public talk and interview with Matthew Collings, during which they mused on her role within the Royal Academy. Emin’s art has fetched astronomical amounts at auction, selling to Charles Saatchi, the 2011 Prime Minister (David Cameron), David Bowie and more for their private collections.
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Located in New York, NY
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Signed, titled and dated in graphite pencil on the front
Unique
Frame included: bears original label from Jay Jopling, the founder of White Cube Gallery, Emin's longtime gallery
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Provenance:
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