Dame Laura Knight, R.A., R.W.S.

In 1907 Laura Knight and her husband Harold moved from Staithes in Yorkshire to take up residence in Newlyn. Over the next decade Laura established herself as a painter of sunlight and shadows with a series of airy and radiant paintings of children and women beside the sea. 'In these pictures I put to account what I had begun to learn in Staithes of sunlight and of figures in action, to which study closer observation in Cornwall had been added.' (Laura Knight, Oil Paint and Grease Paint, 1936, p. 169) After several years of struggling in Staithes, the relaxed and welcoming atmosphere of Newlyn encouraged the two artists to paint with a renewed vigour and both Laura and Harold established their public reputation with pictures painted during the first few years living in Cornwall. As Caroline Fox has noted; 'Inspired by the beauty and light of West Cornwall, encouraged by the support of fellow artists, and for the first time enjoying an active social life, Laura was able to live every moment to the full. Her art blossomed, showing a greater awareness of light, the use of bright colour and freer, more vigorous brushwork.' (Caroline Fox, Dame Laura Knight, 1988, p. 25). In her own words Laura explained her joy in finding a place in which she was inspired and found happiness; 'Cornwall is not like any other sort of country – it's no use trying to compare it with any other place. There are times when you think everything is quite ordinary; and there are times when you feel you are not properly you, but someone else whom you don't in the least know; and an atmosphere prevails which takes away any sense or belief you have ever had, and you don't know why, but you aren't in England any more.' (op. cit. Knight, 1965, p. 139)

In 1909 Knight exhibited the first important picture that she had painted in Newlyn, the large and radiant picture of young girls dressed in smocks and sun-hats playing on a Cornish beach, The Beach (Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne). The similarity of the young models for this painting to those depicted on the beach in the present watercolour, suggests that they are probably contemporary. It was around this time that Laura painted a series of pictures of childhood, including In the Sun, Newlyn and also Flying a Kite (National Gallery of South Africa, Cape Town) exhibited in 1910 with The Boys (Johannesburg Art Gallery). 

This picture will be included in the Catalogue Raisonné on the artist's works, currently being compiled by Mr R. John Croft FCA, the artist's great nephew.