tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20645140.post4094859234424712727..comments2023-06-13T08:29:39.914+00:00Comments on MAKING A MARK: Who painted this? #64Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20645140.post-23059984615420683422022-05-10T07:40:33.397+00:002022-05-10T07:40:33.397+00:00#64 Dame Laura Knight - Take Off 1943
I recently...#64 Dame Laura Knight - Take Off 1943 <br /><br />I recently visited Nottingham, Laura Knight's birthplace. There's an exhibition of her work at Nottingham Castle. She was commissioned as a war artist during World War 2. I first saw this work at the National Portrait Gallery in London, but I think it belongs to The Imperial War Museum. I assume, like most of her work it's painted in oils. Mike Whalleyhttps://clarahost.clara.net/www.whalley100.com/index.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20645140.post-75706720490129570662022-05-09T12:35:55.376+00:002022-05-09T12:35:55.376+00:00This is a painting by Dame Laura Knight, and insta...This is a painting by Dame Laura Knight, and instantly recognizable as such in my view. From that is was a short hop to Art UK which confirmed authorship and told me that is is now housed in the Imperial War Museum, which would have been my first guess anyway. It was part of her work as a war artist, alongside the more well-known image of 'Ruby Loftus screwing a breech ring', and was painted in oils in 1943. For me this was much easier than the last Who Painted This challenge where i didn't know where to start!<br />My name is Matthew Sewell, email matthew@sewell.supanet.com, and your blog system will not allow me to enter those details above, unfortulately. Hence the 'anonymous' entry!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20645140.post-23699282301051003452022-05-09T11:03:32.628+00:002022-05-09T11:03:32.628+00:00Ah, I think you are being a little kind with this ...Ah, I think you are being a little kind with this quest, or it was my lucky day! I found this painting on your blog post from 2019 after my search on Google, "War Artists WW2", resulted in the first hit being "The War Artists of World War II", your blog post commemorating the 80th year since war was declared on Germany by the UK, France, New Zealand and Australia. And there was the painting.<br /><br />This of course led me to (again) your blog about the artist, Dame Laura Knight, a wonderfully comprehensive "essay" you wrote in 2013.<br /><br />The painting is "Take Off", produced by Laura Knight in 1943/4. An oil painting some 1.8 by 1.5 metres. An assumption that the painting would now be housed at the Art collection of the Imperial War Museum proved correct and a description there of the painting states:<br /><br />"The interior of a Stirling Mk3 bomber with the four man crew readying for take-off. Two pilots sit in the cockpit, the navigator busies himself with his maps and the wireless operator, bearing the insignia of a Flight Sergeant, turns a dial on the wireless unit."<br /><br />There would actually have been 7 crew in all on a Stirling Mk3 Bomber, first and second pilot, navigator/bomb aimer, front gunner/WT operator, two air gunners and flight engineer.<br /><br />Wikipedia suggets the navigator shown in the painting is described as Raymond Frankish Escreet, killed on March 21st, 1945, when as Flight Lieutenant his Lockheed Hudson crashed near Maulusmühle. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal two years before his death (as mentioned in the Supplement to the London Gazette, 15th June 1943). (Some websites erroneously stating he was killed before Knight's painting was completed.) In the details of the crash, and at the memorial monument at the scene of the crash, he is described as Wireless Operator, hence I believe he is the radio/wireless operator in Knight's painting, not the navigator.<br /><br />Please see the following for a great illustrated talk about the artist, https://youtu.be/WQLtyDOMb4Y<br /><br /><br /><br />Ray Heatonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20645140.post-19803072844611890862022-05-09T08:13:24.254+00:002022-05-09T08:13:24.254+00:00The painting is 'Take Off' by Dame Laura K...The painting is 'Take Off' by Dame Laura Knight. Oil on Canvas. Painted in 1943. Now in the Imperial War Museum.<br />I didn't manage to get to see the recent Laura Knight exhibition in Milton Keynes, so don't know if it was included ... it probably was.<br />I knew immediately it was by Laura Knight, so googled "Dame Laura Knight bomber crew" and found it straight away.<br />It depicts the crew of a Stirling Mk3 Bomber.Celia Harthttps://celiahart.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20645140.post-37601388432564346772022-05-09T07:23:33.299+00:002022-05-09T07:23:33.299+00:00Dame Laura Knight, 1944, The cockpit of a Lancaste...Dame Laura Knight, 1944, The cockpit of a Lancaster bombereveque@blueyonder.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20645140.post-50704379690995382892022-05-09T01:53:33.329+00:002022-05-09T01:53:33.329+00:00This painting is Take Off, by Dame Laura Knight. I...This painting is Take Off, by Dame Laura Knight. I recognised it straight away as being by her, after seeing a wonderful exhibition of her paintings in the National Portrait Gallery, when in London some years ago. I didn't remember the name of the painting, but remembered seeing it and several other wartime images in the same style. It is now in the Imperial War Museum, and is an oil on canvas, painted in 1943. Sadly, the navigator in this painting was killed in action. Laura Knight was well known before the war for her paintings of ballet dancers and gypsies among other subjects and after the war she painted at the Nuremburg trials. She was also an excellent portrait painter. I googled Laura Knight war paintings to find out the additional details on this work.Cathy Wardnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20645140.post-11830549840573285652022-05-08T15:20:51.755+00:002022-05-08T15:20:51.755+00:00Dame Laura Knight’s ‘Take Off’ painted in 1944. Oi...Dame Laura Knight’s ‘Take Off’ painted in 1944. Oil on canvas, which is in the Imperial War Museum, London. <br />A photograph of the painting was sent to the navigator’s mother when Dame Laura hear of the navigator’s death.<br />The painting was done at RAF Mildenhall in East Anglia. It is of a Stirling bomber which was about to be made obsolete and replaced by the Lancaster.<br />All information is from Caroline Fox’s book on Dame Laura KnightTheresanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20645140.post-13169531103210290992022-05-08T14:47:14.923+00:002022-05-08T14:47:14.923+00:00This oil painting is 'Take-off, by Laura Knigh...This oil painting is 'Take-off, by Laura Knight, and is at the Imperial War Museum. I recognised her distinctive style immediately, and also knew she was a war artist, so it was easy to locate the painting via the official Laura Knight website.Judy Gnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20645140.post-3802458459141225562022-05-08T14:46:47.853+00:002022-05-08T14:46:47.853+00:00Dame Laura Knight
Oil on canvas
1944
RAF Cranwell ...Dame Laura Knight<br />Oil on canvas<br />1944<br />RAF Cranwell , at a guess<br />Imperial War Museum, perhaps, if not<br />All guesswork and probably wrong.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20645140.post-45225435738306597602022-05-08T10:19:45.889+00:002022-05-08T10:19:45.889+00:00Non anonymous comment this time. This looks stran...Non anonymous comment this time. This looks strangely familiar and I'm wondering whether it's a painting by James Gurney that appears in his book on light and colour. I have no idea about the answers to the other questions and won't cheat.The Artistic Actuarynoreply@blogger.com