Dimensions: support: 305 x 324 mm frame: 393 x 420 x 40 mm
Copyright: © The estate of Winifred Knights | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: Here we have Winifred Knights' "Italian Landscape," its date is unknown. The oil on canvas depicts a scene with figures and buildings overlooking a wide river valley. What strikes me is the way the muted palette emphasizes the sheer labor involved in agriculture and domesticity. What do you make of the artist's choices? Curator: It's interesting how Knights uses oil to depict this scene of rural life, almost flattening the forms and emphasizing the geometric shapes of the buildings and fields. The figures seem integrated with, and almost subservient to, the landscape. Think about the post-war context; how does the painting reflect a vision of labor and rebuilding? Editor: That connection to the post-war period hadn't occurred to me, but it makes so much sense. It's a powerful statement about the means of production! Curator: Exactly. Seeing the landscape as a site of production, not just a scene of beauty, really reframes the work.
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/knights-italian-landscape-n03681
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Knights studied at the Slade School of Art and won several painting prizes while she was a student there. In 1920 she was awarded the British School at Rome Scholarship in Decorative Painting for her painting 'The Deluge', which is also on display in this gallery. She lived and worked at the British School at Rome from 1920 to late 1924 and painted some figure compositions and landscapes. This is a view of the river Tiber from the outskirts of Rome to the north. It was purchased from the artist the year after it was painted, when she was still only twenty-three. Gallery label, September 2004
