Laura Knight
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Dame Laura Knight DBE RA RWS |
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Dame Laura Knight circa 1910
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| Born |
Laura Johnson 4 August 1877 Long Eaton, Derbyshire, England |
| Died | 7 July 1970 (aged 92) London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Nottingham School of Art |
| Known for | Painting |
| Notable work | The Nuremberg Trial (1946) |
| Movement | Impressionism |
| Spouse(s) | Harold Knight |
| Awards | Silver Medal at the 1928 Amsterdam Art Olympics |
| Website | www |
Dame Laura Knight, DBE RA RWS (4 August 1877 – 7 July 1970) was an English artist who worked in oils, watercolours, etching, engraving and drypoint. Knight was a painter in the figurative, realist tradition who embraced English Impressionism. In her long career Knight was among the most successful and popular painters in Britain. In 1929 she was created a Dame, and in 1936 became the first woman elected to the Royal Academy since its foundation in 1768. Her large retrospective exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1965 was another first for a woman. Although Knight was known for painting amidst the world of the theatre and ballet in London, and for being a war artist during the Second World War, she was also greatly interested in, and inspired by, marginalised communities and individuals, including Gypsies and circus performers. Her success in the male-dominated British art establishment paved the way for greater status and recognition for women artists.
Laura Johnson was born in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, the youngest of the three daughters of Charles and Charlotte Johnson. Her father died not long after her birth, and Laura grew up in a family that struggled with financial problems. In 1889 she was sent to France with the intention that she would eventually study art at a Parisian . After a short time in French schools, she returned to England.
Charlotte Johnson taught part-time at the Nottingham School of Art, and managed to have Laura Johnson enrolled as an 'artisan student' there, paying no fees, aged thirteen. At the age of fifteen, Laura Johnson took over her mother's teaching duties when Charlotte became seriously ill. Later she won a modest scholarship and the gold medal in the national student competition held by the then South Kensington Museum. She continued to give private lessons after she left the Art School, as both she and her sister Evangeline Agnes, known as Sissie, had been left to live together on very little money, after the deaths of their mother, their sister Nellie and both their grandmothers. At school, Laura met one of the most promising students, Harold Knight, then aged 17, and determined that the best method of learning was to copy Harold's technique. They became friends, and married in 1903.
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