Sea and Rocks

The sea and rocks depicted in this painting are very similar to those in Knight’s paintings ‘The Cruel Sea’, in the collection of Bolton Museum and Gallery. The cliffs in that painting are those at Sennen Cove, near Land’s End in Cornwall. Laura Knight, alongside her husband, the painter Harold Knight, moved to Newlyn in Cornwall in 1907, where they became central figures in a growing artists' colony there, which became known as the ‘Newlyn School’. Whilst in Newlyn, Laura Knight painted the life of the fishermen and tin miners. This painting, along with its sister painting ‘The Cruel Sea’ hints at the dangers the seemingly calm and tranquil sea can hold for fishermen and human life along the coast. In 1929 Laura Knight was made a Dame for her services to art and in 1936 she became the first woman to be elected to the Royal Academy.

c. 1928

Oil on canvas

63.5 x 76.2cm

© The Estate of Dame Laura Knight. All rights reserved 2019 / Bridgeman Images. Image courtesy of The Ingram Collection © JP Bland

This work is part of The Ingram Collection of Modern British & Contemporary Art and was on loan to the Lightbox for the exhibition "Redressing the balance: Women Artists from The Ingram Collection" (11 August - 20 September 2020).