Saturday 13 January to Sunday 30 June 2024 | Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum
One of the most significant and prolific painters of the 20th century, Dame Laura Knight (1877 – 1970) was a great celebrity in her time. Her art is as loved today as it was at the height of her fame.
This exhibition explores Knight as an artist who grew out of the Victorian era, developing and adapting her craft through a period of tumultuous change. In 1936, Knight became the first woman elected to full membership of the Royal Academy of Arts following the founder members Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser in the eighteenth century. Her career covered both world wars, and as a war artist she famously captured the Nuremberg Trials in 1946.
Worcestershire played an important part in Knight’s life and work, the dramatic landscape of the Malvern Hills a subject of her much-loved paintings. Knight and her husband, Harold, spent long periods of time in Malvern from 1933 onwards.
As well as spectacular landscapes of Worcestershire, Yorkshire and Cornwall, she painted members of local Romani communities, alongside ballet, theatre and circus performances.
Dame Laura Knight – I Paint Today brings a stirring selection of Knight’s works to Worcestershire. Art from the Worcester City collection – including three paintings by Knight recently acquired – will be complemented by exciting loans from regional and national galleries.
Exhibition admission
Tickets are required to visit this exhibition and advance booking is available online. There are a variety of ticket options to choose from. The rest of the Art Gallery and Museum is free to visit as usual.
Online booking isn’t available on the day of your visit, but you are welcome to pay in the shop when you arrive. If you’d like to check availability, please give the team a ring on 01905 25371.
The exhibition is open from 10am to 4pm Tuesday to Saturday, and 10am to 3pm on Sunday. Last entry is one hour before closing.
Exhibition admissions and concessions
| Adult | £6 | |
| Worcester Resident | £4 | Please bring proof of Council Tax bill payable to Worcester City Council. |
| Art Fund Member | £3 | Please bring your Art Fund card with you. |
| Art Gallery and Museum Member | FREE | Please bring your membership card with you. |
| Under 16s | FREE | |
| Museums Worcestershire Volunteers | FREE | You must be a current volunteer with Museums Worcestershire. |
| Carer | FREE | When it is necessary for a visitor to be accompanied by a carer we will give free admission to the carer. |
| Pay it forward | donate a ticket for a student to visit for free | £4 | This donation ticket goes towards funding a student to visit the exhibition for free on a Wednesday or Saturday. |
| Student (ages 16+) | FREE (limited spaces on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons only) | Limited spaces available; funded by Worcestershire Heritage, Art & Museums Charity and public donations. |
Pay it forward | donate a ticket so a student can visit for free
Students aged 16+ can get free entry to the exhibition (student ID required) on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons.
These tickets are funded jointly by Worcestershire Heritage, Art & Museums Charity and public donations.
If you would like to contribute, please purchase a “pay it forward” ticket alongside your own. All donations are gratefully received, thank you.*
If you are a student, there is no need to book, just come along on a Wednesday or a Saturday afternoon. Please note there are limited numbers of these tickets and they are available on a first-come, first-served basis from the shop.
*Any unused funds at the end of the exhibition will be donated to Worcestershire Heritage, Art & Museums Charity.
Pay it forward donation tickets can be purchased here. Please note the date you choose when purchasing does not matter as the pay it forward donation tickets will be shared with visiting students throughout the exhibition.
*New* opening hours, January 2024 onwards
From Tuesday 2 January 2024, Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum will be open:
Tuesday to Saturday, 10am – 4pm.
Sundays, 10am – 3pm.
The Art Gallery and Museum will no longer be open on a Monday, but you can now enjoy it on a Sunday!
Audio Guide (free)
Pop some art in your ears with the audio guide. You can listen wherever you are, but the audio is designed to be enjoyed when you are in the exhibition.
Use your own headphones if you have them, and you can log into the Museum Guest wifi when you are at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum. The audio is about 47 minutes long. There are physical audio guides if you’d prefer to borrow one of those.
Find the audio guide here. Happy listening!
What’s On:
Enjoy an exciting series of talks and events alongside the exhibition.
Book signing - Laura Knight in the Malverns | 13 January
Saturday 13 January 2024, 10.30am – 1pm.
Author and Dame Laura Knight expert Heather Whatley will be signing copies of her book Laura Knight in the Malverns at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum on the exhibition’s opening day.
Bite-size Talks | 12 March and 11 June
Laura Knight in Cornwall - with Alison Bevan | 16 March
Saturday 16 March 2024, 11am – 12noon.
Enjoy an illustrated talk by Alison Bevan BEM BA FMA, Director RWA (Royal West of England Academy), about Laura Knight’s relationship with the Newlyn School and Lamorna art colonies, and the lifelong friendships she formed in her Cornish years, including Alfred Munnings, Ella Naper, Eileen Mayo and Bernard Walker.
£6.50; please book via the link below.
Looking Behind the Scenes: Laura Knight and her Theatre ‘Views’ - with Claire Cochrane | 20 April
Saturday 20 April 2024, 11am – 12noon.
A talk by Claire Cochrane, Professor Emeritus of Theatre Studies at the University of Worcester, focusing on Laura Knight’s fascination with the theatre as an environment for creativity in action, giving us an invaluable glimpse of the theatre world backstage. Her close friendship with the Birmingham Rep founder and theatre impresario, Barry Jackson, gave her privileged access to the theatres he managed, including the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in post-war Stratford.
This illustrated talk will draw on pictures in the current exhibition as well as other typical examples of Knight’s observational power to capture the theatre of her day.
£6.50; please book via the link below.
Meanderings Around Worcester - with Philip Serrell | 4 May
Saturday 4 May 2024, 11am – 12noon.
Philip Serrell is an auctioneer, antiques expert, and television personality who appears regularly on BBC TV antiques programmes such as Bargain Hunt and Flog It!
Join Philip for a fun and fascinating insight into his life as an auctioneer in Worcestershire and his love of antiques and porcelain, with a special look at his connection with Dame Laura Knight.
£6.50; please book via the link below.
The Top of the Tree: Laura Knight and her contemporaries - with Pamela Gerrish Nunn | 1 June
Saturday 1 June 2024, 11am – 12noon.
A talk by Pamela Gerrish Nunn, author & professor of Art History & Theory at Canterbury University, New Zealand. In the 1938 book Women of To-day, Laura Knight was declared to be ‘at the top of the tree’, one of the leading artists of the day and an inspiration to other women.
This illustrated talk looks at Knight in comparison with others of her generation, famous and not-so-famous, putting her success in context.
£6.50; please book via the link below.
Dame Laura Knight: Objects that Tell | 8 June
Saturday 8 June 2024, 11am – 12noon.
Dame Laura Knight: Objects that Tell, is a unique opportunity to hear about and handle selected items from the Dame Laura Knight Archive, giving you the opportunity to gain a rare insight into the life of one of the most successful and popular women artists in Britain. Becoming a Dame in 1929, Knight became the first woman elected to full membership of the Royal Academy in 1936 following founder members Angelica Kauffman and Mary Moser.
£6.50; please book via the link below.
Talks and tours for groups:
Groups can book a 30-minute talk with author and Dame Laura Knight expert Heather Whatley.
Bookable talks available are:
- An introduction to the life and work of Dame Laura Knight and this exhibition, I Paint Today
- Dame Laura Knight’s time in Malvern and her links to Worcestershire
To find out more and book, please email: gallerymuseum@museumsworcestershire.org.uk.
Explore Worcestershire:
Follow in Dame Laura Knight’s footsteps with a brand-new trail produced especially for the exhibition, which explores the artist’s links with the Malvern Hills. The trail is available to purchase from the Art Gallery and Museum shop and Malvern Tourist Information Centre.
See what’s on, find accommodation and things to do across the county and the Malvern Hills with Visit Worcestershire and Visit the Malverns.
Image credit: Sundown, c.1955 (oil on canvas), Knight, Laura (1877-1970) / Wolverhampton Art Gallery, West Midlands, UK / © Wolverhampton Art Gallery / © Estate of Dame Laura Knight. All rights reserved 2023 / Bridgeman Images.
