PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS of DAME LAURA KNIGHT DBE RA RWS
Recent Exhibitions – 2006:
The “From Victorian to Modern” exhibition of Vanessa Bell, Gwen John and Laura Knight included 23 works of Dame Laura Knight. The Exhibition was held at:
- Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham – 28th October to 19th December 2006
Recent Exhibitions – 2007:
The “From Victorian to Modern” exhibition of Vanessa Bell, Gwen John and Laura Knight included 23 works of Dame Laura Knight. The Exhibition was held at:
- The Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne – 13th January to 15th April 2007, and
- The Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery – 30th April to 17th June 2007.
Recent Exhibitions – 2008:
The “Modern Britain 1900-1960” exhibition of 250 works of art included 2 Laura Knight works. The Exhibition was held at
- The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia – 15th November 2007 to
24th February 2008.
The “ Laura Knight at the Theatre: Paintings and drawings of ballet and stage” exhibition displayed over 50 of the artist’s works of art. The Exhibition was held at
- The Lowry, Sallford Quays – 22nd March to 6th July 2008, and
- The Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Nottingham – 14th July to 7th October 2008.
The Magic of a Line exhibition, being an exhibition of 120 drawings by Newlyn artists that
included 31 Laura Knight drawings and 3 Harold Knight drawings was held at
- The Penlee House Gallery and Museum, Penzance, Cornwall on 20th September 2008 to 22nd November 2008.
- The exhibition was sponsored by Bonham’s and opened by R. John Croft the artist’s great nephew.
The Royal Academy copied the Penlee exhibition title of The Magic of a Line , and exhibited 19 drawings from one of Laura Knight’s sketchbooks, together with an oil painting “By the Pool”, painted at Colwall in Herefordshire. Some of the titles given to the sketches at the exhibition were challenged by the Estate.
- The exhibition was held upstairs in the Library from 22nd July 2008 to 31st October 2008
Recent Exhibitions – 2009:
Witness: Women War Artists: The Imperial War Museum North, Manchester held an exhibition of women war artists that displayed 6 Dame Laura Knight works, alongside a sketchbook of RAF subjects and some Laura Knight correspondence with the War Artist’s Advisory Committee on subjects. The exhibition was open to the public from 7th February 2009 to 19th April 2009.
Proposed Exhibitions - 2010:
The Victoria and Albert Museum – 25th September 2010 to 8th January 2011. Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, at which 5 Dame Laura Knight works will be exhibited.
CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ
R. John Croft, the nearest living relative to Dame Laura Knight DBE RA, (Laura Knight was John’s grandmother’s sister) is currently compiling a Catalogue Raisonné of the artist’s work and the works of her husband Harold Knight.
The catalogue concentrates on the artist’s oil and watercolour paintings, but will also include some of her well known drawings, etchings and aquatints, particularly those of famous people and events e.g. Nuremberg Trials, famous actors, ballerinas, novelists etc.
The Catalogue will become the recognised authorative reference as to the correct titles of the artist's work, dimensions, dates of the works, background information on scenes and people depicted, provenance, exhibition details, interesting anecdotes on particular works, as well as an authorative write on the life of the artist providing in some instances further interesting undocumented detail on the artist, as can only be provided by the nearest living relative and close friends of the artist.
The Catalogue currently contains details on over 2,000 works. In some instances better quality images are still being sought and some further background on details.
Collectors and dealers are being most helpful in providing further details on works on an almost continuous basis. John Croft takes this opportunity in expressing his appreciation and thanking all these numerous people and enthusiasts of the artists. Currently there are still approximately a further 500 images and details on mainly oil and watercolour works that are still sought.
Do you own a Laura Knight or Harold Knight work? Would you like it to be included in the Catalogue? If so please email info@damelauraknight.com
Private collectors of Dame Laura Knight works are urgently sought in order to make the Catalogue more comprehensive.
Should you own a Dame Laura Knight work, please make contact by Emailing info@damelauraknight.com or writing to The Friends of Dame Laura Knight Society, PO Box 4710, Worthing, West Sussex BN11 9JE.
Your details will remain confidential and the entry in the Catalogue under location will simply state “Private Collector”.
LAURA KNIGHT IMAGE GALLERY
The close and distant relatives of Dame Laura Knight, her friends and some private collectors are having digital photographs taken of their works for commercial reproduction. Such images will generally be of a quality for editorial use.
If you are a private collector, rather than let the dust dwell on your work of art, why not let it provide you with a potential periodic dividend – e.g. an image fee?
If you are interested send your enquiry to The Friends of Dame Laura Knight Society, PO Box 4710, Worthing, West Sussex, BN11 9JE, or Email info@damelauraknight.com
ILLUSTRATED TALKS
Recent Talks – 2008:
25th June 2008: R. John Croft gave an illustrated talk to over 200 people in Colwall, Herefordshire displaying about 120 images of Laura Knight works. The talk covered the life of the artist and the display showed how her work changed from Nottingham/Staithes period, to her time in Cornwall till later life. The display also demonstrated the wide range of subjects she painted that included amongst many others, the Ballet, The Theatre, The Circus, Gypsies and Romanies, World War Commissions etc.
After the first session of about an hour, the second session was devoted entirely to Malvern paintings, with audience participation to identify local characters and places. Such participation was appreciated by John as it has assisted the compiling of his Catalogue Raisonne.
John challenged the audience as to why no plaques, or any other form of commemoration or association could be seen in the area, as the artist spent over 30 years of her life in and around Malvern.
The outcome of the talk assisted in the creation of the first of several planned local Friends of Laura Knight Societies and also as a consequence, on 6th December 2008, a plaque was commissioned by the Colwall Village Society and erected at The Colwall Park Hotel. Laura Knight and her husband stayed at this hotel and had some studios there for about 20 years.
25th September 2008: Dr Pamela Gerrish Nunn an Associate professor of Art History, University of Canterbury, New Zealand gave a talk in Nottingham Castle Museum called “Laura Knight – Her greatest performance”.
27th October 2008: Alison Bevan, the Director of Penlee House Gallery and Museum, gave a talk to over 150 people at the Worcester Art Gallery and Museum about Dame Laura Knight in the context of women artists in Cornwall.
Recent Talks – 2009:
27th March 2009: Alison Bevan, the Director of Penlee House Gallery and Museum gave another interesting talk to over 150 people in conjunction with the Malvern Festival at the Colwall Village Hall, near Malvern.
23rd October 2009: Dr. Pamela Gerrish Nunn gave another talk entitled 'Dame Laura Knight - Modern Woman' to about 100 people in conjunction with the Malvern festival at the Colwall Village Hall, near Malvern.
Recent Talks - 2010
21st May 2010: A talk by Dr. Alice Strickland under the title 'Laura Knight as a War Artist and her time in Malvern' was given at the Colwall village hall. The talk encompassed the artists' commissions completed for the War Artists Committee that included her poster work through to the Nuremberg Trials.
Proposed Talks - 2010:
9th July 2010: An illustrated talk on Harold Knight RA by R. John Croft, great nephew of Dame Laura Knight and Patron of The Friends of Dame Laura Knight Society, has been CANCELLED by the Malvern branch of the Friends of DLK Society on their not being able to obtain a booking for the Colwall Village Hall in the month of July or near to.
October 2010: Dame Laura Knight television interview. Details to be announced shortly.
31st October 2010: Neil Walker, Visual Art Collector at the Djanogly Art Gallery, University of Nottingham will give a talk on the artist on the development of her art from her time at Nottingham School of Art, to Staithes and Cornwall.
The talk will be part of the Autumn in Malvern Festival - 2010 and will be held at The Coach House Theatre, Grange Road, Great Malvern at 2:30pm. Tickets £6 to the general public and £4 for members of The Friends Of Dame Laura Knight Society on production of your membership card.
LATEST OTHER NEWS
Dame Laura Knight Watercolour Sale
Dame Laura Knight's watercolour and bodycolour over pencil on linen "Wind and Sun" was sold at Sotheby's on 15th July 2009 for a record £914,850!
Nottingham Trent University will be opening a new conference centre in 2010. The conference rooms are to be named after those synonymous with Nottingham. A room will be named "Knight Room". The launch date is to be announced shortly.
Blue Plaque
A third blue plaque will soon be erected, this time in Malvern. The first blue plaque is in Nottingham, the second is at her London home. The plaque in Malvern will be erected on the Mount Pleasant Hotel where Laura and Harold used to stay on many occasions during the latter 1920's and throughout the 1930's.
WEBSITE LATEST NEWS
On 11th September the website was enlarged to incorporate over 150 works of Dame Laura Knight that may be seen at Public Galleries and Museums on the Examples Pages.
The fantastic ability of Dame Laura Knight from the age of a child may be seen from two of the drawings displayed on the "Drawings, Etchings, Aquatints, Drypoints and Lithographs" Page when in 1891 she was only 14.
|
