Dame Laura Knight, RA, RWS (British, 1877-1970) The Yellow Lady signed 'L Johnson' (verso); with later signature and date 'Laura Knight/1891' (lower left) oil on canvas 91 x 121 cm. (35 3/4 x 47 5/8 in.) Footnotes: Provenance Sale; Phillips, London, 3 March 1998, lot 9 Private Collection, U.K. Literature Laura Knight, The Magic of a Line, William Kimber and Co., London, 1965, pp.74, 87 and 98 Exhibited Nottingham, Nottingham School of Art, 1895 (silver medal winner) London, Royal Academy, 1965, Dame Laura Knight: Retrospective Exhibition, 1965, cat.no.9 London, Upper Grosvenor Galleries, Laura Knight: 75 Years of Painting, June 1969, cat.no.22 Nottingham, Nottingham Castle Museum, Dame Laura Knight, 11 July-2 August 1970, cat.no.8 Milton Keynes, MK Gallery, Laura Knight: A Panoramic View, 9 October 2021-20 February 2022 This early and highly personal work by Dame Laura Knight depicts the artist's favoured model, Lily Poyser, then a teenager and head model at the Nottingham School of Art. Knight herself recalled the painting, describing how she 'chose an unusual lighting effect' and draped Lily 'in a veil of yellow muslin costing tuppence three farthings a yard', with the assistance of her grandmother, whose encouragement was instrumental in the young artist's development. The work became affectionately known within the family as 'Yellow Boy', a title reflecting both its distinctive tonality and importance within Knight's formative years. Painted when Knight was still a prodigy, aged 17, this picture belongs to a group of ambitious student studies executed while she attended life classes at Nottingham. At a time when female students were restricted from drawing from the nude, Knight rebelled against what she later described as the constraints of Victorian propriety, striving instead for direct observation and realism. Despite personal hardship following the early loss of her parents, she pursued her training with determination, hiring models independently and paying them with her work. The present painting was later given as payment to Knight's life model Jack Price. It was rediscovered among a group of works in a bricked-up cupboard in a derelict property on George Street, Nottingham, during demolition works. Subsequently dispersed at auction, the painting was recognised and purchased by a Mr Collier, who identified the sitter as his late wife, Lily Poyser, whom he had married in 1903. Later correspondence with his daughter, supported by photographs, enabled Knight herself to confirm this remarkable story. Further family accounts attest that Lily and her sisters frequently modelled for Knight, receiving a modest halfpenny per morning. The present work, also exhibited by the artist in London to mark her ninety-first birthday under the title The Yellow Lady, thus stands not only as a striking early experiment in colour and light, but also as a rare and intimate testament to Knight's formative artistic circle and her precocious talent. Saleroom notices: Please note that the likely date for this work is circa 1893-94, as per Fey Blanchard and Anthony Spira (ed.), Laura Knight: A Panoramic View, Bloomsbury, Philip Wilson Publishers, London and Dublin, p.23 (col.ill). This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: AR AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing

Saleroom Notice:
Please note that the likely date for this work is circa 1893-94, as per Fey Blanchard and Anthony Spira (ed.), Laura Knight: A Panoramic View, Bloomsbury, Philip Wilson Publishers, London and Dublin, p.23 (col.ill).