Property from a Private Collection

DAME LAURA KNIGHT, DBE RA RWS (BRITISH 1877-1970)
'The Golden Cloak', Diaghilev Ballet, backstage
signed and dated Laura Knight 1922 (lower right)
watercolour and ink
29.5 x 23.8 cm (11 5/8 x 9 3/8 in)

PROVENANCE:
Sale, Gorringe's, East Sussex, 2004, lot 2049
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

‘Laura was undoubtedly happiest when painting informal scenes backstage of dancers in their dressing rooms… Her dressing-room paintings express this joy in her surroundings…’ (Caroline Fox, Dame Laura Knight, 1988, p. 52).

In 1919 Laura Knight moved from Cornwall to London where she was invited backstage by the great impresario Sergei Diaghilev during the third season of his Ballets Russes. This new subject matter absorbed and fascinated Knight and she attended every show capturing the intimate backstage rituals of the performers. She was embraced by the ballerinas and given an intimacy that a male artist would not have been permitted. Laura painted many of the leading ballet stars at the time including Nijinsky, Karsavina, Lopokova, Massime and Pavlova.

The present lot is one of a series of works that Knight executed behind the scenes at the ballet. At the right of the composition is a ballet dancer in costume, gracefully stretching in preparation for her performance. The shadowed background hints at the unseen buzz of anticipation beyond. One can almost sense the excited murmur of the audience taking their seats and the tuning of the orchestra.