Dame Laura Knight
Born – long Eaton, England 1877
Died – London, England 1970
In 1890, Laura Johnson began as a full time student at Nottingham School of Art and had won silver and bronze medals for her portraiture by the age of sixteen. She lived in two artists’ colonies – Staides, Yorkshire and Newlyn, Cornwell – before settling with husband, painter Harold Knight, in London in 1918. In 1927, she became the second woman to be made an Associate of the Royal Academy and became a full Royal Academician in 1936. She is known for her popular paintings of the circus and the ballet and was duly recognized for her technique, which satisfied conservative standards conservative standards of the Academy. However, her most memorable achievements are encapsulated in the monumental painting of Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech-Ring. Focusing on women’s work in an armaments factory in 1943, Knight draws attention, with scrupulous detail, to the position of women in the war effort. Ruby is made a symbol of virtue and hard work, literally illuminated like a saint by her task, which was of national importance. Knight was made an official war artist in 1942 and was commissioned to paint the Nuremburg war trails in 1945. the sensitive interpretation of her lesser known works, featuring women and children, have largely been overlooked.
Masterpieces:
- The Beach
- Self-Portrait
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About dame laura knight
Dame Laura Knight
Caroline Fox
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The Bridgewater Days
W.E. with Knight, Dame Laura (Illustration) Lyon
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The Graphic Work of Laura Knight: Including a Catalogue Raisonne of Her Prints
G. Fredric Bolling
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