Queen Elizabeth II's art collection just got a little bigger and â€" at least by the work represented â€" a lot more adventurous. To commemorate the queen's diamond jubilee marking the 60th anniversary of her ascension to the throne, the Royal Academy of Arts has given her 97 works on paper by some of Britain's most esteemed and also most polarizing artists.
There's a colorful David Hockney drawing in the collection and also a beautiful dying-star-like abstract painting by Anish Kapoor. There's also an impressionistic line portrait of the queen by Tracy Emin, who rose to fame for her provocatively confessional work, and a piece by the Tracy Emin, Grayson Perry, known for his highly entertaining cross-dressing as well as for his sexually explicit work. (The drawing given to the queen, a depiction of Mr. Perry's motorcycle, is fancifully tame.)
“The Royal Academy's diamond jubilee gift is a vivid cross-section of t he best of contemporary British art,†Martin Clayton, senior curator of prints and drawings at the Royal Collection Trust, told The Telegraph. He described the collection as “livelier and more varied†than the academy's previous gifts over the years.
“Now in 2012 there is no sense of dutiful deference,†Mr. Clayton added. “The artists and architects are simply presenting an example of their very best work to the queen, and in some cases that work is very personal.â€
The pieces, by 93 artists, are scheduled to go on display at the Queen's Gallery in Buckingham Palace next fall.
