Harold Knight (1874-1961) was the son of a Nottingham, England architect who attended the well regarded art school in his home city. Near the end of his studies, he entered some academic male nude paintings in a contest and won the grand prize. This launched a very successful career as a portraitist, and as far as anyone can tell, he never painted nudes again, male or female. A conscientious objector, he was blacklisted during World War I, and his career hit the skids. After the war, however, it recovered, and he was deservedly made a full member of the Royal Academy.
Harold Knight's work is lovely. So evocative of late Victorian England. I particularly like the way a fairly mature model is doing the type of pose usually done by a much younger one. It works rather well. All his work is inspiring...
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