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Lot Essay
Laura Knight studied at Nottingham School of Art with her future husband, Harold Knight. They lived first at Staithes in Yorkshire, then moved to Newlyn in Cornwall in 1907 and finally settled in London in 1919. Laura Knight was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy from 1903 onwards and in 1936 was one of the first women to be elected a Royal Academician.
Newlyn had attracted artists since the late 19th century when Walter Langley (see lots 64-66) was among the first to record life in the picturesque fishing village. Although the heyday of the first generation of Newlyn artist was over by 1907 when the Knights moved to Cornwall, new artists continued to be attracted to the village by the painting school run by Stanhope Forbes and his wife.
In the warm and friendly atmosphere of Newlyn Laura Knight flourished. Her paintings, The Beach (1908; Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne), The Boys (1910; Johannesburg Art Gallery) and Flying a Kite (1910; South African National Gallery, Cape Town) heralded a new era in her style with their bright palette and lighthearted subject matter. These works were highly admired when exhibited at the Royal Academy where Mrs. Asquith, wife of the future Prime Minister, was overheard asking, 'Who is this Laura Knight?'.
The present work is one of a number of fine watercolours executed by the artist in Cornwall. It may be compared with Wind and Sun (circa 1913, private collection, see C. Fox, Dame Laura Knight, Oxford, 1988, pl. 31) in which two young girls sit on a cliff edge. Carolyn Fox (op.cit., p. 40) comments: 'The extreme refinement and delicacy of her watercolours contrast with the much broader brushwork of her oil paintings, as her critics have been quick to emphasize, her Cornish watercolours are some of the finest she ever produced'.
Newlyn had attracted artists since the late 19th century when Walter Langley (see lots 64-66) was among the first to record life in the picturesque fishing village. Although the heyday of the first generation of Newlyn artist was over by 1907 when the Knights moved to Cornwall, new artists continued to be attracted to the village by the painting school run by Stanhope Forbes and his wife.
In the warm and friendly atmosphere of Newlyn Laura Knight flourished. Her paintings, The Beach (1908; Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne), The Boys (1910; Johannesburg Art Gallery) and Flying a Kite (1910; South African National Gallery, Cape Town) heralded a new era in her style with their bright palette and lighthearted subject matter. These works were highly admired when exhibited at the Royal Academy where Mrs. Asquith, wife of the future Prime Minister, was overheard asking, 'Who is this Laura Knight?'.
The present work is one of a number of fine watercolours executed by the artist in Cornwall. It may be compared with Wind and Sun (circa 1913, private collection, see C. Fox, Dame Laura Knight, Oxford, 1988, pl. 31) in which two young girls sit on a cliff edge. Carolyn Fox (op.cit., p. 40) comments: 'The extreme refinement and delicacy of her watercolours contrast with the much broader brushwork of her oil paintings, as her critics have been quick to emphasize, her Cornish watercolours are some of the finest she ever produced'.