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Fiona Rae

b. 1963

Visual artist British contemporary (born 1963)

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About Fiona Rae

Born 1963. Fiona Rae is a British and Chinese painter and artist.

Fiona Rae (born 10 October 1963) is a Hong Kong-born British artist. She is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who rose to prominence in the 1990s. Throughout her career, she has been known for having a portfolio of work that includes elements of energy, and complexity. Her work is known for aiming at expanding the modern traditions of painting.

She was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 2002 and is referred to as a Royal Academician allowing the use of RA after her name. In 2002 she was appointed a Tate Artist Trustee between 2005 and 2009. She was commissioned by Tate Modern to create a 10-metre triptych Shadowland for the restaurant there in 2002.

In December 2011, she was appointed Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy, one of the first two female professors since the Academy was founded in 1768.

Rae has exhibited extensively in museums and galleries internationally and her work is held in public and private collections worldwide. Of her work, William Corwin summarises, "Rae's paintings are very much objects to be admired; windows into worlds in which she is mistress, giving the viewer over to a semi-recognizable, occasionally comforting, but mostly alien dreamscape."

Public collections

Tate Collection: five works: ‘Untitled (yellow)’, 1990, ‘Untitled (grey and brown)’, 1991, ‘Untitled (emergency room)’, 1996, ‘Night Vision', 1998, ‘Shadowland', 2002

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.; 'Sunburst Finish' (1997) Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK; 'Untitled (six on brown)' Sintra Museum of Modern Art: The Berardo Collection, Sintra, Portugal Southampton City Art Gallery, England (6/1998); Fast Breeder

Solo exhibitions Following the success of 'Freeze' in 1988, Rae's paintings have appeared in solo shows internationally. 'Fiona Rae' Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (1992) 'Fiona Rae' at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (1993–1994) 'Fiona Rae', Carré d'Art Musée d'art contemporain de Nîmes, France (2002–2003)

Publications Aside from numerous exhibition catalogues, Rae’s paintings are discussed in many publications including:

1996 – Morgan, Stuart, "Fiona Rae: Playing for Time", What the Butler Saw, Ian Hunt (ed.), London, UK: Durian Publications 1996 – The 20th-Century Art Book, London, UK, Phaidon Press 1999 – Stallabrass, Julian, High Art Lite: British Art in the 1990s, Verso London and New York 1997 – Button, Virginia, The Turner Prize, London, UK, Tate Gallery Publishing 2004 – Tate Women Artists, text by Alicia Foster, London, UK, Tate Gallery Publishing 2006 – Tate Modern: The Handbook, Frances Morris (ed.), texts by Michael Craig-Martin, Andrew Marr and Sheena Wagstaff, London, UK, Tate Publishing 2007 – The Turner Prize. Revised Edition, Virginia Button, London, UK, Tate Publishing 2007 – Open Space: Art in the Public Realm in London 1995–2005, Jemima Montagu (ed.), London, UK, Arts Council England and Central London Partnership 2009 – Painting Today, Tony Godfrey (ed.), London, UK, Phaidon Press 2010 – Barret, Terry, Making Art: Form and Meaning, New York City: McGraw-Hill Publishers 2010 – Pooke, Grant, Contemporary British Art: An Introduction, London, UK: Routledge 2012 – Fiona Rae: maybe you can live on the moon in the next century, London, UK: Ridinghouse in association with Leeds Art Gallery.

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Important facts

Birth century
Occupation
Education
Goldsmiths, University of London
Also known as
Fiona Rae RA, BA

People in Fiona Rae's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Fiona Rae's

Frequently asked questions

Who is Fiona Rae?

visual artist British contemporary (born 1963)

When was Fiona Rae born?

Fiona Rae was born on 10 October 1963 in Hong Kong.

What is Fiona Rae's occupation?

Fiona Rae is a painter and artist.

What nationality is Fiona Rae?

Fiona Rae is British and Chinese.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Fiona Rae

· Wikidata: Q3072722

· DBpedia: Fiona Rae

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Fiona Rae. https://biography.guide/fiona-rae/

MLA: "Fiona Rae." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/fiona-rae/.

Chicago: "Fiona Rae." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/fiona-rae/.

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