In 1990, midway through her BA course at Glasgow School of Art, Jenny Saville exhibited in 'Contemporary '90' at the Royal College of Art. In 1992 she completed her degree as well as showing in Edinburgh and in 'Critics Choice' at the Cooling Gallery, London. Following the success of her show at the Saatchi Gallery in 1994, which generated a great deal of publicity for her work. Saville went on to take part in the exhibition 'American Passion', which toured from the McClellan Gallery, Glasgow, to the Royal College of Art and the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut.

By 1994 many people were familiar with Saville's massive paintings, such as Plan, in which a naked woman is seen from below, her body filling the canvas through a combination of physical bulk and extreme foreshortening. Contour lines, as would demarcate the changes in altitude of landmasses on a map, are drawn across the surface of the woman's skin. Saville's increasingly high profile enabled her to exhibit in several shows during 1996.