Laura Knight RA: A Working life


Charming exhibition at the Royal Academy of works by Dame Laura Knight from the Academy’s own collection.

The works were given to the Royal Academy in the 1972 by Knight’s executors to mark that she was the first woman elected to membership in 1936. This show focused on nudes, the countryside and theatre and circus.

I loved the simply draw pictures of dancers recording moments in their movement in a few lines. The show includes a sketchbook from 1919 from time she spent watching the Diaghilev company. The nudes section pointed out that she had not been allowed to paint from life as a woman during her training so she employed her own models.

It was a nice touch to show this work with a portrait of Knight by her husband Harold Knight.

Closes 2 February 2020

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