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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)

Self Portrait inspired by a fashion plate, circa 1914

SKU: 9318
Pencil and watercolour
9 3/4 x 7 1/4 in. (24.7 x 18.4 cm)

Size:
Height – 24.7cm
Width – 18.4cm

DESCRIPTION

Provenance:
Private collection.
Presentation:
framed

Literature: Llewellyn, Sacha, Winifred Knights, Lund Humphries, 2014, ill. p 19, fig 12


Before starting her training at the Slade Knights frequently copied fashion plates, projecting her own persona onto the the latest modes of dress.  As a Slade student, Knights cultivated a dress style based on purity and simplicity, in hand-spun and hand-woven cloth, combining elements drawn from Renaissance painting and ‚Äúaesthetic dress‚Äù to create a compelling statement of feminine artistic identity. In Italy, she adopted a version of Italian peasant costume, subsequently retained all her life, consisting of ankle-length skirts of plain or checked cloth, coral necklaces and a broad-brimmed hat or headscarf. 
 
Admired for her striking looks, Knights was portrayed by numerous painters and sculptors during her lifetime, including David Evans, Colin Gill, Alfred Hardiman, Arnold Mason, Ambrose McEvoy, Thomas Monnington and Mary Potter. In the major paintings produced by Gill and Monnington during their Scholarships at the British School at Rome, Knights is the principle figure and main source of inspiration.  the Leonardo da Vinci-inspired hairstyle that became an essential characteristic of her artistic identity. 
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THE ARTIST

Winifred Knights
Winifred
Knights
1899 - 1947

Winifred Knights was born in Streatham, London in 1899. She studied at the Slade School of Fine Art (1915’17, 1918’20 and 1926’27) . In 1919 she jointly won the Slade Summer Composition Competition with A Scene in a Village Street with Mill-Hands Conversing. In 1920, she became the first woman to win the Scholarship in Decorative Painting awarded by the British School at Rome. She remained in Italy until December 1925, marrying fellow Rome Scholar Thomas Monnington (1902’1976) in April 1924. On her return to England, Knights received a commission to paint an altarpiece for the Milner Memorial Chapel in Canterbury. A major commission for the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, on which she had been working for five years, remained unconcluded at her early death, aged 47.
Throughout her life, Winifred Knights produced work through which she explored women’s autonomy. Presenting herself as the central protagonist, and selecting models from her inner circle, she rewrote and reinterpreted fairy tale and legend, biblical narrative and pagan mythology. She was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery in 2016.

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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Lineholt Farmhouse
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Landscape, Piediluco, Italy, 1924
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Paradise,1921
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Compositional study for The Flight into Egypt, circa 1938
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Landscape with Fence, c. 1920
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Study for the Marriage at Canna with a Self-portrait, circa 1923
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Portrait of Colin Gill, c.1921
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Colour Study for Foreground Figure of Woman Combing her Hair, Santissima Trinita, mid 1920’s
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Owl, circa 1922
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Study for Blue Bells, circa 1937
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Study of Bluebells, circa 1937
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Study for the Marriage at Cana, seated nude, three quarter frontal view, circa 1924
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Illustration to Algernon Blackwood’s The Centaur, 1915
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Illustration to Algernon Blackwood’s The Centaur, 1915
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Self Portrait, circa 1916
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Self Portrait inspired by a fashion plate, circa 1914
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Study of Ophrys Bertolonii, commonly known as Bertoloni’s Bee Orchid, circa 1925
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Portrait Study of Colin Gill, c.1921
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Study for St Martin’s Altarpiece, Canterbury Cathedral, circa 1932
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Self Portrait as Little Miss Muffet, June 1918
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Study of a Seated Woman for The Santissima Trinita
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Cartoon for Scenes from the Life of Saint Martin of Tours
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
A View to the East from the British School at Rome
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Compositional study for Pompilia
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Study of the exterior of a house by Lake Piediluco
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Self-portrait
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Early compositional study for The Deluge
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Self-portrait sketching at a table
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The Potato Harvest
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Study for Jairus’ Daughter
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Mabel Knights seated in a hayfield
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Leaving the Munitions Works, 1919
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Study of Lineholt Farmhouse Facade, c. 1932
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Figure study, St Martin’s altarpiece, circa 1928
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Study for St Martin altarpiece, angel from the waist down
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Study of a Walnut tree for Scenes from the Life of Saint Martin of Tours, circa 1930
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Landscape study for Santisima Trinita, circa 1924
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Portrait of Arnold Mason, circa 1919
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Italian Landscape, circa 1924
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Study for Scenes from the Life of St Martin of Tours, circa 1929
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Figure Study, Scenes from the Life of St Martin of Tours, circa 1929
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
The original cartoon for The Deluge, 1920
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Study for ‘Design for Wall Decoration’ – Three Women Bearing Baskets of Apples, circa 1918
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Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Landscape study for Santissima Trinita, circa 1924