Emin to teach drawing at Royal Academy of Art

The next generation of artists will be guided by Tracey Emin, after she was appointed professor of drawing at the Royal Academy of Arts.

The laws of the academy, based in Piccadilly, central London, state its professors are “required to deliver annually a course of lectures, or conduct seminars, adapted to the arts of design, in their respective subjects”.

Fellow artists Fiona Rae and Richard Wilson have been made professors of painting and sculpture respectively.

Royal Academy president Christopher Le Brun said: “We are delighted at these new appointments. Tracey Emin, Fiona Rae and Richard Wilson join an esteemed list of artists who have held these positions.”

Emin has been a controversial figure throughout her career. In 1999, she was shortlisted for the Turner Prize and exhibited My Bed, her own unmade bed complete with used condoms and blood-stained underwear, at the Tate Gallery.

Eileen Cooper, keeper of the Royal Academy Schools, said: “In the history of the Royal Academy we have never had a female professor before – and now we have two. I’m both proud and delighted by this development.”