01 Painting, PORTRAIT OF A LADY, Dame Laura Knight's Make-up (Dressing Room), with Footnotes #150

Dame Laura Knight, R.A., R.W.S., British, 1877 - 1972

Make-up (Dressing Room), c. 1959

Oil and black chalk on canvas

61 by 51cm., 24 by 20in.

Private collection

Estimated for 30,000 - 50,000 GBP in December 2022

The present painting depicts the inner sanctum of the ballerinas world, the cluttered dressing-room where a group of young ballerinas are applying their lipstick, filing their finger-nails and assessing their make-up in the mirrors. Knight described the scene of a ballerina's dressing-room thus; 'The dressing-table, crowded with pots of creams, powder puffs, trays of make-up, a comb, and pink ballet shoes with ribbons hanging down - all mirrored in the looking-glass behind - is ready made for a still life study. The wall around is covered with congratulatory telegrams, photographs of friends and ballet positions, to say nothing of a jar of handsome flowers picked from a former bouquet on the table itself, also duplicated in the mirror.' Laura Knight

Dame Laura Knight DBE RA RWS (née Johnson; 4 August 1877 – 7 July 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. In her long career, Knight was among the most successful and popular painters in Britain. Her success in the male-dominated British art establishment paved the way for greater status and recognition for women artists.

In 1929 she was created a Dame, and in 1936 became the second woman elected to full membership of the Royal Academy. Her large retrospective exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1965 was the first for a woman. Knight was known for painting amidst the world of the theatre and ballet in London, and for being a war artist during the Second World War. She was also greatly interested in, and inspired by, marginalised communities and individuals, including Romani people and circus performers. More on Dame Laura Knight

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