Dame Laura Knight Dead

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32349, 15 July 1970, Page 20

Dame Laura Knight Dead

Dame Laura Knight, the English artist who became famous as a painter of fairground and circus life, died in London late last week, at the age of 92. She and her husband, Mr Harold Knight, the portrait painter who died in 1961, were the only husband and wife members of the Royal Academy in its history. Dame Laura Knight studied at the Nottingham School of Arts, where she met her husband. In 1903, the young artist couple wept to Newlyn, Cornwall, and joined a colony of painters there. From Newlyn, Dame Laura Knight contributed regularly to the Royal Academy paintings of bathers and Cornish types, and landscapes of the Lands End district.

After the First World War, Dame Laura Knight devoted herself chiefly to paintings of the circus, Sometimes the scenes represented were in the Big Top, but more often in the dressing room or stables.

She also produced paintings of the nude, portraits and landscapes. In 1936, Dame Laura Knight was elected to the Royal Academy. She was a regular contributor for many years. Many of her later paintings were of the circus ring, and backstage at the ballet In 1929, she was created a Dame Commander of the British Empire. She was awarded honorary degrees from St Andrew’s University and Nottingham University. In 1936, she published an autobiography called “Oil Paint and Grease Paint”

“A Proper Circus Omie,” appeared in 1961, and “The Magic of Line,” in 1964.