Charles Knight VPRWS ROI

1901 - 1990

Charles Knight is best known for his watercolour paintings of the landscapes of Sussex, made with deep affection for the locations and rural traditions. He studied at the Brighton College of Art, gaining a scholarship to the Royal Academy Schools, where he was taught by Walter Sickert, George Clausen and Glyn Philpot. His mature watercolour style was deeply influenced by the technique and approach of John Sell Cotman. He also painted in oils, and his oil landscape of Llangollen won the Turner Gold Medal and was purchased by Sir Joseph Duveen for the Tate, establishing his reputation. Knight was elected to the Royal Watercolour Society in 1933 and became Vice-President in 1961. In 1940, he was commissioned by the Pilgrim Trust for their Recording Britain scheme under Kenneth Clark, contributing forty drawings of Sussex, in particular Brighton and Lewes, for which he was paid £5 each. Queen Elizabeth invited Knight to tutor Princess Margaret for three years. After the war, Knight designed stained glass windows for Sussex churches, but he was primarily acclaimed for continuing the great English watercolour tradition, with great integrity, into the late 20th century.