Dame Laura Knight, RA, RWS

(British, 1877-1970)

A ballet dancer

Footnotes

Provenance
Sale, Phillips London, 16 June 1987, lot 45
Sale, Christie's London, 10 November 1988, lot 151
with David Messum, London, 1989
Private collection, UK

Soon after moving to London with her husband, Harold, in 1919, Knight was invited backstage during the third season of the Ballets Russes. According to Knight, 'this put a proper finish to [her] nostalgia for the sea'.¹ She became close friends with Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova (1892-1981), who allowed Knight to use her dressing room as a studio, a privilege she describes vividly in her autobiography:

'The dressing room of such a ballerina has a unique glamour. The dressing-table, crowded with pots of creams, powder puffs, trays of make-up, a comb, and pink ballet-shoes with ribbons hanging down [...] Lydia's own dainty figure is seen as she steps into the round opening of her white tarlatan skirt. Into this she lifts her lovely limbs clad in rose-coloured silk, all ashine in movement.'²

The present lot is an excellent example of Knight's unique backstage experience observing the dancers. Various colourful costumes are draped around the dressing room, with the strong light of the dressing table mirror echoing the dramatic effect of a stage spotlight, illuminating her slight figure and the stiffly starched texture of her white skirt. The shadowed background hints at the unseen buzz of activity and anticipation beyond – the orchestra tuning up, dancers loosening up their limbs in the coulisses, the excited murmur of the audience taking their seats. Knight captures a very intimate moment with the ballerina, her stance centred and steady, taking a moment to herself to reflect before leaving her dressing room for the performance.

We are grateful to R. John Croft FCA, great nephew of the artist, for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.

¹L. Knight, The Magic of a Line, London, 1965, p.152-3
² ibid., p.157