Tracey Emin first came to public attention in the early 1990s and has gone on to achieve a level of visibility unparalleled for an artist in recent times. Her use of intensely personal, everyday materials gives her work an intimate quality, combining avant-garde ideas with traditions of craft. Employing a variety of media that have included installation, film and video, prints and drawings, neon, fabric and artists' books, Emin has built up a formidable body of work whilst maintaining a distinctive artistic vision that is all her own.

Neal Brown's accessibly written and lavishly illustrated survey includes numerous extracts from Emin's own writings, engaging with the literary quality that underpins most of her work, and placing her portraits in a tradition that includes Egon Schiele, Edvard Munch and Van Gogh.

Reaching beyond any status Emin may have as a media celebrity, this is a thoroughgoing yet approachable introducition to the work of this important contemporary artist.