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Lot Essay
In 1919 Knight tells us that she and her husband, Harold, decided that London should be their 'headquarters' and she immediately 'went to the ballet to work'. Even since her first experience of the Ballets Russes at the Coronation Gala in June 1911 she had been captivated. Important canvases including Le Carnival (sold Christie's 16 December 2009) and Pavillon d'Armide followed and throughout the war she yearned for the opportunity for closer involvement with the theatre. So after their move from Cornwall she obtained permission to work backstage at the Coliseum.
She was immediately amazed at what she found. Stage-flats towered above her; lights were switched on; and 'by a jagged-edged piece of scenery a man in black velvet jerkin practices his double tours [and] dancers are loosening up for "Sylphides"'. Knight worked feverishly with sketchbook in hand (1922, from The Magic of a Line, 1965, p. 182), storing up impressions that emerged as paintings in exhibitions throughout the 1920s.
One of these is the present canvas. By 1922, although other stars continued to perform, Diaghilev, burdened with debts, was obliged to withdraw the Russian Ballet from London and while by this stage Knight had painted Pavlova, Lopokhova and Karsavina, mystery surrounds the identity of the dancer in Awaiting her Turn. No other painter, apart from Edgar Degas could catch the effect of the coulisses. How acutely does Knight exploit the contrast between this solitary figure 'ready for her Act' and the lime-lit scenery in lurid greens beyond the foreground shadows.
KMc.
She was immediately amazed at what she found. Stage-flats towered above her; lights were switched on; and 'by a jagged-edged piece of scenery a man in black velvet jerkin practices his double tours [and] dancers are loosening up for "Sylphides"'. Knight worked feverishly with sketchbook in hand (1922, from The Magic of a Line, 1965, p. 182), storing up impressions that emerged as paintings in exhibitions throughout the 1920s.
One of these is the present canvas. By 1922, although other stars continued to perform, Diaghilev, burdened with debts, was obliged to withdraw the Russian Ballet from London and while by this stage Knight had painted Pavlova, Lopokhova and Karsavina, mystery surrounds the identity of the dancer in Awaiting her Turn. No other painter, apart from Edgar Degas could catch the effect of the coulisses. How acutely does Knight exploit the contrast between this solitary figure 'ready for her Act' and the lime-lit scenery in lurid greens beyond the foreground shadows.
KMc.