Ladies' fingers acceptable to artist (4)
I believe the answer is:
okra
'ladies' fingers' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'acceptable to artist' is the wordplay.
'acceptable' becomes 'ok'.
'to artist' becomes 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts**).
'ok'+'ra'='OKRA'
(Other definitions for okra that I've seen before include "Ladies' fingers with edible pods" , "Long green tropical vegetable" , "Bhindi in Ind. cookery" , "vegetable dish" , "old ladies' fingers" .)