Laura Knight

British painter Dame Laura Knight was the wife of Harold Knight. The painter, graphic artist and impressionist was the first woman who dared to draw a self-portrait with a female nude. She had her best period between the two world wars and in 1929 was awarded the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, as the first woman since the 18th century to be introduced into the Royal Academy. She became best known for her portraits of dancers, actors and circus actors in the early 20th century. Laura and Harold had an influential circle of friends including George Bernard Shaw, T E Lawrence and Augustus John. Her portrait of Shaw was one of her finest works.

After World War II Knight became the official war artist of the Nuremberg trials on the leadership of the Third Reich. She received an “Honorable Mention” in the Arts Competitions at London in 1948 for her Boxing Sketch in the engraving and etchings category, while at Amsterdam in 1928 she won a silver medal for the work Boxers. Canadian Joe Shears (St. James) was the model for her paintings of boxers. She was commissioned by the Canadian War Memorials Fund in 1916 to paint the physical training of the troops at Witley Camp near Godalming in Surrey, south west of London. Shears was army champion at the time. The painting has been exhibited under various titles and is best known as Boxing in Camp (The Light-Heavyweights). The painting in oil on canvas measures 58 x 71cm. Also an oil on canvas painting is Between Rounds from about 1920, submitted in 1932. The work may also be identical to the one that was entered as Repos (Recreational Break) in 1928.

One version of Paddock at Ascot (oil on canvas, 51 x 64 cm) is said to have been painted around 1935. A painting entitled Romany Belles is in the Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museum. The work depicted under this title in the 1948 catalog, however, is traded on the art market as Gypsies at Epsom (oil on canvas, 76.2 x 63.5 cm). Epsom is a 35.5 x 51 cm watercolor with pencil. Again, there is another work known with this title.

Especially in the 1930s, Laura Knight created numerous sketches, drawings and individual watercolors on the subject of boxing, which were probably exhibited collectively as Boxer or Boxing. Only one drawing can be clearly identified from its illustration in the catalog.