Dame Laura KNIGHT (1877 - 1970) - Lot 157
On the Olympic, 1922
Black pencil and stump drawing, signed, dated and titled lower left
35 x 26 cm
We thank R. John Croft, President of the Trustees of
Dame Laura Knight who kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work and told us: that the Scene takes place on the SS Olympic looking from the promenade to the lower Steerage deck; This depicts groups of emigrants taking in the air, away from the lower decks, on their way to America
This is one of several drawings of emigrants made by the artist on his first trip to New York, in the company of the painter
Lucien Simon (1861 - 1949). They had been invited by Homer St
Gaudens, director of the Fine Arts Department of the Carnegie
Institute Pittsburgh to be the European representatives of the jury of the prize at the
Exhibitions: International of Pittsburgh.
The SS Olympic was built for the White Star Line (which also owned the Titanic and the Britannic) to cross the Atlantic to New York.
The ship known as the "Old Reliable" was used as a troop ship in the Dardanelles campaign during World War I; it was the only merchant ship to sink a warship (U Boat 103).