Beschreibung:

Knight (Laura, 1877-1970). An archive of letters and sketches sent to Allardyce & Josephine Nicoll, 1938-1967, comprising: 18 pen & ink or biro sketches on 17 leaves, of dogs and people, some with typed captions tipped on, two on 'Wind's Acre' headed paper, some fraying and chipping to edges, sheet size largest 36.5 x 26.5 (14 1/4 x 10 1/2 ins), smallest 14 x 13 cm (5.5 x 5 1/8 ins), and a further 8 pen & ink or biro sketches on postcards or headed paper, mostly of angelic figures, together with 33 autograph letters signed from Laura Knight, comprising: 8 letters to Allardyce and Josephine, 11 letters to Josephine, 8 letters to Allardyce, and 6 to Allardyce and his second wife Maria, variously written on plain or headed paper, including a number written on red embossed headed paper '16, Langford Place', some written from the British Camp Hotel, Malvern, and 3 written from the Grand Hotel, Nuremberg, Germany, 4 with additional sketches, including one of Laura and Harold imbibing wine sent by the Nicolls, and another of Laura in bed whilst her new cleaning lady manically scrubs the floor, plus a portion only of 2 other letters from Laura to the Nicolls, an autograph letter signed from Harold Knight to Allardyce and Josephine (and a partial letter from him), and 18 other letters to Allardyce or Josie from other friends, including one from Arthur Pinero and a number from Sir Barry Jackson, several on 'The Birmingham Repertory Theatre Ltd.' headed paper, various sizes (Quantity: approx. 80) An important archive of letters and drawings sent by Dame Laura Knight to Allardyce and Josephine (known as Josie) Nicholl. The letters are full of warmth and appreciation for these closest of friends, whom Laura socialised and corresponded with over three decades. Allardyce Nicoll was a professor of Theatre History at the University of Birmingham, and he and Josie became friends with Laura Knight through their mutual involvement with the Malvern Festival. Their house, Wind's Acre in Colwall, was situated on the hillside to the west of the Herefordshire Beacon at Malvern. During WWII the Nicholls allowed Laura to design a beautiful studio in a detached two-storey outbuilding there, which had a huge window at the rear, where the artist painted her famous views of the Malvern Hills. One of the letters in this archive describes the renovation of the studio in October 1942, presumably whilst the Nicholls were absent from home, and in another (undated) she speaks of her gratitude at her friends' generosity: 'You can never have the vaguest idea of the grandeur of both yours and Allardyce's act in allowing me to use that heavenly studio. - Apart from the joy of being there, - but for it we would have been forced to go back to London into that awful bombing ...'. Laura's letters are wonderfully descriptive, with many passages painting a picture of people, animals and landscapes with her artist's eye. There are, of course, many references to her work as an artist. In one, dated 1938, she writes 'I am spending the days in a gypsy camp, having a grand time wading in paint', and in another of 1944 she says 'I hear my "Take-off" picture, the Bomber one, of which I told you, is hanging in the place of honour, the President's place at the R.A.' In 1945 she talks about the paintings she had embarked upon at the Skefko ball bearing factory: 'the work I have commenced here promises excitement and great interest. I think it may prove the most unusual and thrilling scheme of the kind I have done.' In 1949 she mentions the portrait she was painting of the then Princess Elizabeth: 'I go to Clarence House for another sitting from H.R.H. I do wish I could feel normal - tiresome to be so overawed, doesn't suit a hard job like doing a drawing - never easy at any time.' Various well-known people are mentioned in this archive, including Edwin Lutyens whose election as the new President of the Royal Academy in 1938 was a great relief to Laura, John Birch on whose behalf s