The Old Garden (A Snow Scene) Laura Knight 1965
Starting off on a seasonal note, Laura Knight has captured the beauty of a crisp winter’s day in her painting of ‘The Old Garden’ which came up for auction earlier this year at Tennants’ Auctioneers, Leyburn, North Yorkshire.
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The Lampshade Story
It was December 1919, and Laura and Harold Knight had been invited to spend Christmas with their great friend and fellow artist, Alfred Munnings, at his recently acquired house in Dedham – CastleHouse.
In the second volume of Munnings’ autobiography,The Second Burst, he recalls Laura, sitting on an ottoman in the living room, painting figures of the Russian Ballet on a lampshade using coloured inks. Munnings was obviously taken by it as he kept it in- situ all his life. When he sat in his chair in the evening and switched on the lamp, he enjoyed looking at the collection of ballet-girls, harlequins and dancers and remembered Laura as she sat with her brushes by the fire, oblivious of others around her, absorbed in her painting. That Christmas of 1919 at Castle House was a merry gathering with artists, singers and musicians.
We hope you have a merry gathering of your own this year and are able to share Christmas with family and friends. The committee of the Dame Laura Knight Society send you our very best wishes this Christmas time and hope the New Year brings you good health and happiness in abundance.
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It has been an active and fruitful year for sales of paintings by Laura Knight but before we report on auction lots and prices achieved, here is a national newspaper headline from 4th December 2021 (51 years since Laura’s death and she still manages to grab the media’s attention!)
Valuable drawings by Dame Laura Knight stolen after Royal Mail left them on doorstep
Substantial reward on offer after five pieces were taken from outside art dealer’s Suffolk home
By Patrick Sawer, Senior News Reporter 4 December 2021 • 9:30pm
Art dealer, historian and journalist Richard Morris, who specialises in 20th century British art, is hoping someone in the trade may be offered them and they can be recovered.
Morris is also offering a reward.
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News of the sale of paintings by Laura and Harold Knight 2021
SOTHEBYS
Boxing in Camp (The Light Heavy-Weights)
Dame Laura Knight, R.A., R.W.S.
Estimate: 70,000 – 90,000 GBP
Lot sold: £88,200
Portrait of Ella Naper
Dame Laura Knight, R.A., R.W.S.
Estimate: 8,000 – 12,000 GBP
Lot sold: £35,280
Bonhams
Sennen Cove, Cornwall 51 x 61 cm. (20 1/16 x 24 in.) – Dame Laura Knight, RA
London – Sennen Cove by Laura Knight, (1877-1970) sold for £500,250 at Bonhams Blazing a Trail: Modern British Women Artists sale in London on Wednesday 29 September. Estimated at £60,000-80,000, it was the top selling lot in this innovative sale, which showcased the work of British women artists, both established and less well known.
Waiting in the Wings DAME LAURA KNIGHT, RA
62 x 53.6 cm. (24 3/8 x 21 1/8 in.)
Sold for £ 35,250 inc. premium tax
29 Sep 2021, 15:00 BST
Estimate:40,000 – 60,000 USD
Lot sold:100,800 USD
A Village Wedding Harold Knight R.A. R.O.I. R.P. (1874 Nottingham – 1961 Colwall Stone)
Property of a Private Collector, Palm Beach
oil on canvas canvas: 64 1/4 by 76 1/4 in.
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A highlight of the year for the society has been the exhibition of Laura Knight’s work at Milton Keynes Gallery. Please sign up for the society visit to the exhibition if you haven’t already done so. Places are limited and the coach is almost full. Details of how to sign up are on the last page of this newsletter in the FORTHCOMING EVENTS section.
Committee member Michael Johnson attended the private view on October 8th and here is his report:
Laura Knight: A Panoramic View
Milton Keynes Gallery 9th October 2021 – 20th February 2022
As our society’s archivist I have, over the past 12 months or so, been assisting the Milton Keynes Gallery in a small way in the production of their new exhibition of Dame Laura Knight’s work entitled: A Panoramic View.’ Consequently, it was with pleasure that I was able to represent our society at the exhibition opening and gallery preview.
In approaching the gallery, I was a little apprehensive as to how well her paintings would fit within a modern ‘White Cube’ Gallery. These doubts proved to be a little misplaced as the staff have gone to some effort in transforming each room according to a specific period of Knight’s career. That said, the overall simplicity of the rooms ensured no distraction to the paintings on show. The exhibition is contained within five interlinked rooms with her work generally displayed in a chronological order (Beginning with ‘Study of a Girl’ 1893 through to ‘Unfinished Portrait’ 1970) but also loosely overlapped in career phases, titles as: Early Work, Newlyn, Ballet, Circus, Theatre, Between The Acts, Gypsies, War and finally Malvern.
There are 160 artefacts on display, of which some 85 are paintings and studies with the remainder being a collection of ceramics, enamelled jewellery, personal sketch books and a unique lamp shade, (Which unfortunately could not be backlit) designed and gifted to Alfred Munnings in 1919, loaned by the Munnings Museum.
I still cannot overemphasise the impact and pleasure I felt when facing the original paintings in the gallery, showing off their vitality and vivacity of colour as opposed to spending the last 18 months viewing via a computer screen. As there is insufficient space for me to write about every picture on show, nor am I suitably qualified, I feel it worthwhile to share some of my personal highlights.
As always; saying hello to one of my favorite paintings: ‘Allez Oop’ was a pleasure, as were viewing the sketchbooks and quick studies, including preliminary sketches for her ‘Nuremberg Trial’.
This exhibition has been curated in partnership with the Penlee Gallery in Penzance and consequently some of the paintings and ephemera have transferred over to Milton Keynes. However, to those who visited Penlee I would still thoroughly recommend the visit, if only to enjoy the increased breadth and scope of her work on display: The largest exhibition of her work in 50 years; a true Panoramic perspective.
Michael Johnson
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As a society, we are broadening our scope of interest to include contemporaries of Laura Knight as well as other artists associated with places Laura Knight painted. It is in this vein that our speaker, Brendan Flynn, talked to the society on 6th November about the Birmingham Boys who were pioneers of the Newlyn School.
Here is committee member Heather Whatley’s report:
‘Birmingham had discovered Newlyn as a painterly place’
Brendan Flynn’s talk ‘Pioneers of the Newlyn School’ was given to an enthusiastic audience of 70 or more Friends and supporters at Colwall Village Hall on 6th November. As our first live talk for 2 years Brendan’s was especially well received. With his particular expertise and interest in 19thC British Art, especially that of Birmingham *, our speaker explored the connection between artists and designers trained from the 1870s at the Birmingham School of Art and Design and their stay in the artist’s colony of South Cornwall. Reviewing the education, lives and achievements of four particular male artists, Walter Langley, Edwin Harris, William Wainwright and Frank Richards, Brendan set them in the social and economic context of the wealthy industrial city: the city which was built on grime and the hard graft of workers but which invested generously in schools to train designers and galleries to exhibit their achievements.
The key figure in the Birmingham School from 1877 was the Head Edward R. Taylor, a protagonist of the Arts and Crafts movement. Taylor encouraged and promoted promising working class students, training them in the precepts of the movement: a return to the artisanship and purity of preindustrial Britain, an exploration of the lives of ordinary working people and the value of individual craftsmanship. Many of his students went on to study at South Kensington School of Art, or gained scholarships to Paris, Antwerp, later staying in the new art colonies in Brittany. Here, influenced by Bastien-LePage, they developed painting outdoors and from real life, ‘en plein air’, recording for ever the working world of ordinary people. Their creative commentary became known as ‘social realism’.
Walter Langley was the first to arrive in Newlyn from Brum in 1877. The son of a tailor he trained from 13 as a designer but as an adult became a self-styled artist. In 1882 he was sponsored by a photographer to go to Cornwall to paint so he uprooted (some years before Stanhope Forbes arrived) . Using examples of Langley’s early water colours of Newlyn, such as ‘An Old Lady’, ‘Among the Missing’ and ‘The Breadwinners’ Brendan described how Langley’s working class origins endeared him to the locals who felt comfortable posing for him. The subjects of many of his paintings were tragic and sorrowful, feelings reflecting the true lives of a fishing community These proved very popular with the Victorian public, including Queen Victoria. Langley’s arrival in Newlyn pioneered its period as the ‘British Concarneau’. He continued to work here and following a period of absence after public success, returned to live here and developed painting in oils, till 1910.
Edwin Harris, a fellow student of art, arrived in 1881 after training in Antwerp and Brittany. He then remained here from 1883 for 12 years, becoming an assistant teacher at the Newlyn School and central figure in the Stanhope Forbes social set. Painting in both water colours and oils Harris was business conscious, loath to paint unpopular subjects or in a canvas size that did not sell. Like Langley he was a social realist and his portraits of local characters and of pretty girls at windows are redolent of the Dutch School. Unlike his colleague his motivation to paint and record Newlyn fishing life did not seem to stem from strong socialist commitment. ‘Fish Sale on a Cornish beach’ was one of his most popular paintings. We saw images of his character studies of ‘The Pilot’ and ‘The Fisherman’ as well as intimate scenes of fishermen and their families’ social and working lives, e.g. gathering mussels and peeling apples.
With Harris at the Antwerp ateliers and Brittany had been William Wainwright, originally trained in Birmingham as a designer of stained glass. He joined fellow midlanders in Newlyn in 1884 where he specialised in painting landscapes and character studies. We saw examples of his portraiture, reminiscent of Rembrandt, where the harshness of fishing life was etched on their faces. Though he became an active member of the Colony, Wainwright was always a loyal son of Birmingham where he returned to live, teach and paint until his death, having established the Birmingham Society of Artists.
Latest to arrive from Birmingham in 1889, via Europe and Africa, was Frank Richards, a colleague of Gaskin. Examples of his work including ‘Fisherman Reading’ and ‘End of the Day’ told of his more commercial social realism (‘rural idylls for sale’), his expertise at using the ‘square brush’ technique and his skills at painting landscape, figures and portraits, and as an illustrator.
In 1886 Langley’s Cornish paintings formed the core of the first exhibition held at the new Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The Gallery also bought many of his and his friends’ paintings of Newlyn. Many of these, some perhaps viewed as ‘chocolate boxey,’ remain very popular images, a record of life of 19thC working Cornish fisherman. And so, Brendan’s talk reminded us, the ‘Birmingham Boys’ brought Cornwall back to the heart of England.
Heather Whatley Dec 2021
*Brendan Flynn was Keeper of Fine Art and Senior Curator at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Curator of Fine Art at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, where he developed the PreRaphaelite, Modern British and Contemporary International Art Collections. Since retirement in 2012 he has been a freelance curator and lecturer and in 2015 was elected as Professor of Art History for the Birmingham Society of Artists.
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Important Society News
- Change of website name
At our AGM it was agreed to change the name of the society to the Dame Laura Knight Society (previously it was Friends of Dame Laura Knight Society Malvern and Colwall Branch). Following on from this, the society’s new website will be:
https://www.damelauraknightsociety.co.uk which will make the society much more visible on a google search. The new website name will be up and running at the beginning of the new year.
- Change of Logo
As the name of the society has changed, the logo needed to be updated so we took this opportunity to adopt a different colour scheme which reflects the colours in Laura Knight’s self -portrait – namely red and black. Thanks to Gwyn Klee for the design.
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS
- 28th January 2022 (This event is organised by Milton Keynes Gallery) One day conference at Milton Keynes Gallery. ‘The Show is on: Laura Knight’s Career and Contexts’
It is possible for people to attend who are not presenting papers and the cost is £35 (concession £20) with lunch
Alternatively you can attend a Zoom presentation for £20 (concession £10)
On-line admission 11.30am
This can be booked on-line or over the phone: 01908 676 900
- 3rd February 2022 Society visit to Milton Keynes Gallery to see the Laura Knight exhibition ‘A Panoramic View’. Cost £30 to cover return coach travel from Malvern, exhibition entry ticket, lunch, highlights guided tour. There will be plenty of time to view the exhibition by yourself at your own pace after lunch. Email evieknight3@gmail.com to reserve your place. But don’t delay as places are limited and the coach is almost full!
- 30th April 2022 Talk by Fay Blanchard who is one of the curators of the Laura Knight exhibition at Milton Keynes. She will talk about all the planning and preparation which has gone into this exhibition. Title of talk: ‘Curating Laura Knight: putting together the largest Laura Knight exhibition in over 50 years’. Venue: Colwall Village Hall 3pm
- May 2022 Malvern Walking Festival. There will be a Laura Knight themed walk, visiting places she painted. Date tbc
- July 2022 A sociable event. Details and date tbc
- 7th October Talk by writer Frances Spalding on ‘Laura Knight: Through her Art and in her Time’. Colwall Village Hall 7.30pm. In association with the Autumn in Malvern Festival.
I shall be in touch with you all nearer the time of all the above events with further details but for the time being, please add the dates to your diaries.
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May I take this opportunity to thank you, as a member of the society, for your continued and valued support and thanks to your hardworking committee for their contributions to this newsletter.
We started on a festive note with Laura Knight’s drawing of dancers on Munnings’ lampshade (which is currently on display at the MKG exhibition) on Christmas Day 1919 and we shall end with another light hearted sketch by Laura Knight in 1915 in Mornie Birch’s guestbook ‘A Pig in Time Saves a Rhyme’. Guests were required to draw a pig when blindfolded.
I think Laura has one up on Alfred Sidgwick!
Very best wishes for a safe and healthy festive period.
Evie Knight
Chair DLKS December 2021
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