Portrait of Winifred Knights wearing a coral necklace, reading, circa 1921

Private Collection

Arnold Mason (1885 - 1963)

Portrait of Winifred Knights wearing a coral necklace, reading, circa 1921

SKU: 103

Pencil on paper.

Size:
Height – 25cm
Width – 18cm

DESCRIPTION

Provenance:
Winifred Knights; thence by descent

Presentation:
framed

Winifred Knights was one of the Slade’s most striking beauties. Fellow
Slade-trained artists Mason, Gill and Monnington all fell under her
spell. This portrait by Mason is likely to date from August 1921 when –
as Knight’s fiancé – he visited her at the end of her first year as a
Rome Scholar.

In a letter dated 10th August Knights refers to Mason’s staying with
her at Anticoli Corrado: ‘Arnold put all his sketches on the wall
today. He has over 30 most of them beauties .. I have bought a lovely
coral necklace a beauty.‘

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THE ARTIST

Arnold

Mason

1885 - 1963

Landscape and portrait painter, born at Birkenhead, Cheshire. He studied at the Royal College of Art and the Slade, and also in Paris and Rome. He helped Sir William Richmond with decorations at the Old Bailey, London, 1906-8. He served in the Artists’ Rifles, 1915-1918. He exhibited at the RA from 1919, being elected RA in 1951. He also showed at NEAC, RP, Leicester Galleries, Goupil Gallery and ROI. Examples of his work are in the collections of the Tate Gallery, Manchester City Art Gallery and Wakefield City Art Gallery.

Mason earned his living mostly by painting portraits, much in the style of Augustus John, with whom he shared a studio. He was engaged to fellow Slade artist Winifred Knights and produced a number of remarkable portraits of her.