'Actors Waiting, 1923' by Dame Laura Knight RA (1877-1970)

Object Description

Drawing by Dame Laura Knight RA (1877-1970)

Dame Laura Knight seems to have slept with a pencil in her hand. This is a very typical sketch, the theatre was a great love of hers and this seems to depict a moment in the wings of a Shakespearean play, possibly the Old Vic where she spent many hours backstage. She also spent many hours at the Birmingham Rep, but as 1923 was the year when Barry Jackson made theatre history with the first production of Shakespeare in modern dress, this is probably London. A strong Knight theatre drawing framed in a period gesso frame, very reasonably priced.

Object History

An English artist who worked in oils, watercolours, etching, engraving and drypoint. Knight was a painter in the figurative, realist tradition and who embraced English Impressionism. In her long career, Knight was among the most successful and popular painters in Britain. Her success in the male-dominated British art establishment paved the way for greater status and recognition for women artists. In 1929, she was created a Dame, and in 1936 became the first woman elected to full membership of the Royal Academy since its foundation in 1768. During the war, her popularity and distinguished career made her an obvious choice for the War Artists Advisory Committee, who tasked British artists with recording the war. In 1945 she asked to record the trial of Nazi war criminals in Nuremberg. Her large retrospective exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1965 was the first for a woman. Several long biographies have been written on her fascinating life and her work is represented in most decent public collections.

Object Literature

This painting has been shown at our exhibition ‘A Dealer´s Eye’ in March 2020. View e-catalogue here: https://ebooks.panterandhall.com/other/a-dealers-eye/

Object Details