Marvellous Laura Knight who drew so well from an early age.
Dame Laura Knight, The Fairgrounds, Penzance, (c.1916), Source: Sotheby’s
Who Was Dame Laura Knight?
Dame Laura Knight (1877-1970) 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. As a teenager, she initially started painting to help support her financially struggling family in her home town of Nottingham, England.
The Fairground
Dating back to the fourteenth century, a fair was regularly held in Penzance in Cornwall, England. Common sights included merry-go-rounds, acrobats, clowns, peddlars, beer-sellers, and men performing card tricks.
Dame Laura Knight, The Fairgrounds, Penzance, (c.1916), Source:Sotheby’s(detail)
According to Sotheby’s
Travelling fairgrounds, carnivals, circuses and side shows, often operated by gypsies, were, of course, a common feature of English towns and villages at the turn of the twentieth century. Many, such as that at Penzance, had venerable histories.
Dame Laura Knight…
View original post 249 more words
penwithlit 