Laura Knight

Laura Knight was one of the leading female artists of the 20th Century. She was raised as Laura Johnson in Long Eaton and went on the study Art in Nottingham where she met her future husband Harold Knight.They moved to Staithes where Laura and Harold were married.
They moved from Staithes to Newlyn in 1907 where Laura was a leading light in the Newlyn School which had been formed under Stanhope Forbes. Some of Knights best work was undoubtedly down whilst in Cornwall. During the first world war they moved up to St John’s Wood, North London where they stayed for the rest of their lives.
Laura spent her life following the circus, ballet, theatre and also the gipsies around. They bought a house in the Malvern Hills where she did a lot of her painting. She loved painting the characters back stage and the less glamorous scenes. Laura Knight was an official War Artist during the 2nd Wold War and was the only female allowed into the Nurenberg Trials painting one of her most famous and haunting oils which is now owned by the Imperial War Museum.
In 1929 she was created a Dame for her work in the arts and in 1936 she became the second women elected to full membership of the Royal Academy. Her large retrospective exhibition in 1965 at the Royal Academy was the first for a woman.