A silver medal dated 1894 and awarded to Laura Johnson, late...

Hammer

£850

A silver medal dated 1894 and awarded to Laura Johnson, later Dame Laura Knight (1877 - 1970), by the Science and Art Department of the South Kensington Museum which is now the V and A Museum. The edge of the medal is inscribed 'Laura Johnson, subject 16A'.
Dame Laura, as she became in 1927, was born in Long Eaton, Derbyshire to parents Charles and Charlotte Johnson. She married fellow artist Harold Knight in 1903.
She became one of the great British artists of the 20th century and paved the way for women artists in a sphere which had previously been dominated by men.
Famous for her depiction of theatre, ballet and circus performers she worked with oils, watercolours and other media.
In 1936, She became only the second woman to be elected as a full member of The Royal Academy and during The Second World War she was chosen as an official war artist and following the end of the war she was commissioned to produce a painting of The Nuremberg Trial in 1946