Tuesday 12th July 2016    UPDATE:

 

SALE AT CHRISTIE’S SOUTH KENSINGTON

WEDNESDAY 13TH JULY 2016

‘A PORTRAIT OF FLORENCE’

BY THE NOTTINGHAM ARTIST

HAROLD KNIGHT (1874-1961)

 

The Fletcher Gate Art Gallery will be following the sale of Harold Knight’s painting ‘A PORTRAIT OF FLORENCE’ at Christie’s South Kensington with particular interest because of it’s important connection to Nottingham.

The celebrated artist Harold KNIGHT was born in Nottingham in 1874.  The son of an architect he studied at the Nottingham School of Art in 1893. It was at the Art School he was to meet the famous Nottinghamshire artist  Laura Knight (nee Johnson).  In 1907, the Knights moved to Lamorna in Cornwall,where they became central figures in the growing artists colony.  The Lamorna group of artists’ emphasis on colour and light, truth and social realism bought about a revolution in British art which was to remain influential to this day.

In 1929, Laura Knight was made a Dame for her services to art and in 1936 became the first woman to be elected to the Royal Academy.

 

Sunday 3rd July 2016

A PORTRAIT OF A ‘SERENE BEAUTY’ THAT FORESHADOWS TRAGIC LOVE AFFAIR TO BE SOLD AT CHRISTIE’S ON 13TH JULY 2016

 

 

The painting ‘A PORTRAIT OF FLORENCE’ shares a fascinating  provenance.   It captures Carter-Wood in 1901-10 as she was falling in love with her future husband, the artist Alfred Munnings.  At the time Florence was also growing close to Captain Gilbert Evans, with whom she would allegedly have an affair and become pregnant before ending her life in 1914.

Painted by Harold Knight the internationally celebrated Nottinghamshire artist,the portrait was passed to Gilbert Evans after Carter-Wood’s death and will be sold at Christie’s by one of his descendants with an estimate of £150,000.

At the time Carter-Wood ‘dappled in sunlight’ as a ‘serene harmony in blue’  was happy surrounded by her twenty-something bohemian friends spending time in Lamorna Cove, Cornwall.  But her life did not remain as happy.  Despite marrying Munnings in 1912, she remained in Cornwall while he travelled in search of fame and fortune as an artist.

Carter-Wood’s unrequited love drew her closer to Gilbert Evans, a young captain in the Monmouthshire Regiment.  He had joined her in her circle of friends after working as a land agent nearby.  In 1914, after falling pregnant by him, Carter-Wood committed suicide.

What will this incredibly romantic portrait which masks one of the most complex  ménages à trois ever to fascinate the art world achieve at auction ? – WE SHALL SEE!

 

Best Wishes

Claire Moore

GALLERY MANAGER

 

WELCOME TO THE FLETCHER GATE FINE ART GALLERY