Fisherfolk baiting lines on the cobbles, Staithes

Name: DAME LAURA KNIGHT, R.A., R.W.S. (BRITISH, 1877-1970)
Brand: Fisherfolk baiting lines on the cobbles, Staithes
Price: 15000.00 GBP
Availability: SoldOut

Price Realised GBP 18,900

Estimate

GBP 15,000 - GBP 20,000

Closed: 15 Jul 2022

Loading details

Try our

DAME LAURA KNIGHT, R.A., R.W.S. (BRITISH, 1877-1970)

Fisherfolk baiting lines on the cobbles, Staithes

Price Realised GBP 18,900

Closed: 15 Jul 2022

Price Realised GBP 18,900

Closed: 15 Jul 2022

Details Lot Essay Related Articles More from

DAME LAURA KNIGHT, R.A., R.W.S. (BRITISH, 1877-1970)
Fisherfolk baiting lines on the cobbles, Staithes
signed 'LauraJohnson' (lower right)
oil on canvas
18¹⁄₄ x 22 in. (46.5 x 55.8 cm.)

with T.B. & R. Jordan, Stockton on Tees.
Private collection, UK.
Anonymous sale; Bonhams, London, 2 March 2016, lot 94, where purchased by the present owner.

E. Knowles et al., Laura Knight: A Celebration, Bristol, 2021, illustrated p. 19.
F. Blanchard and A. Spira, Laura Knight: A Panoramic View, London, 2021, illustrated p. 25.

Penzance, Penlee House, Laura Knight: A Celebration, 17 May 2021 - 16 September 2021, unnumbered.
Milton Keynes, MK Gallery, Laura Knight: A Panoramic View, 9 October 2021 - 20 February 2022, unnumbered.

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.
Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.

Conditions of Sale
FAQs
This lot is offered by Christie Manson & Woods Ltd

Brought to you by

Sarah ReynoldsSpecialist, Head of Sale

A Christie's specialist may contact you to discuss this lot or to notify you if the condition changes prior to the sale.

sareynolds@christies.com +44 (0)20 7752 3284

Lot Essay

The work is signed ‘Laura Johnson’ indicating that this is an early work by Dame Laura Knight, who moved to Staithes in 1897 and married Harold Knight in 1903. Thereafter, she ceased signing work under her maiden name of Johnson. The painting focuses on the everyday lives of the Staithes fishing community, as they sit and bait lines on the sea front. Knight’s own humble background led her to seek out unconventional subject matter, and prevented her from adhering to hierarchical class structures when choosing her sitters.

Knight’s time in Staithes was formative in her artistic development. Perhaps most crucially, the artist learnt the skills of careful observation, which aided her in sensitively capturing her models. This was a key skill that the artist utilised throughout her . Knight comments in her autobiography, , p. 75, 'It was [at Staithes] that I found myself and what I might do. The life and the place were what I yearned for - the freedom, the austerity, the savagery and the wildness. I loved it passionately, overwhelmingly; I loved the cold and the northerly storms when no covering would protect you.’

Knight generates a duality in her picture: in the melancholic and introverted fisherfolk, who are reminiscent of the characters in the Dutch master paintings that she admired, contrasted with the colourful and looser brushstrokes of the beach and background, which instead show her interest in French pointillism. In this picture, Knight presents herself as a masterful observer, and conjures up the atmosphere of Staithes at the turn of the century.

The painting is to be included in the catalogue raisonné of Dame Laura Knight currently being compiled by R John Croft FCA, the great-nephew of the artist.