Girl embracing a tense European artist (7)
I believe the answer is:
matisse
'artist' is the definition.
(Henri Matisse)
'girl embracing a tense european' is the wordplay.
'girl' becomes 'miss' ('miss' can be a synonym of 'girl'**).
'embracing' indicates putting letters inside.
'tense' becomes 't' (abbreviation used in many dictionaries).
'european' becomes 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'a'+'t'='at'
'miss' going around 'at' is 'matiss'.
'matiss'+'e'='MATISSE'
(Other definitions for matisse that I've seen before include "Henri -, nineteenth-twentieth century French painter/sculptor" , "French painter, Henri, d.1954" , "Leading fauvist painter, d. 1954" , "Henri ---, Twentieth Century painter" , "French painter, d. 1954" .)