Full Description
LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM MB BERGER PRIZE FOR BRITISH ART HISTORY 2022
A major survey of Dame Laura Knight, first female Royal Academician and popular British artist of the 20th century.
Laura Knight (1877-1970) was one of the most famous and popular English artists of the twentieth century. She was the first woman to have a solo exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, in 1965. In the following decades, her realist style of painting fell out of fashion and her work become largely overlooked. Anew generation has rediscovered her work, finding a contemporary resonance in her depictions of women at work, of people from marginalized communities and her contributions as a war artist.
This beautifully illustrated book, which accompanied a major exhibition at MK Gallery, provides an overview of Knight's illustrious career: from her training at Nottingham Art School at the age of 13 and her time in North Yorkshire and Cornwall, to her visits to traveller communities and a segregated American hospital. It also features her circus, ballet and theatre scenes, paintings of women during the war and her late paintings of nature.
The selection of over 160 works combines celebrated paintings with less known graphic and design works, including ceramics, jewellery and costumes that reflect the artist's enduring interest in the everyday activities of people from all walks of life.
Contents
A Panoramic View by Fay Blanchard & Anthony Spira
Timeline
Journey to Fame by Pamela Gerrish Nunn
Early Work
Newlyn
The Heat of Their Bodies by Lubaina Himid
The Interwar Years by Sophie Hatchwell
Ballet
Pictures Within Pictures by Hannah Starkey
Circus
Between Painting and Performance by Monster Chetwynd
Theatre
Between the Acts
A Complicated Artist by Barbara Walker
Gypsies
The Sky for a Ceiling by Damian Le Bas
Dame Laura's One-Man Show by Sacha Llewellyn
War
Malvern
Notes
References
Image Credits
Index of Works
Acknowledgements
