This intimate drawing depicts Lydia Lopokova, the celebrated Russian ballerina who performed with Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Knight worked backstage with the company during the early 1920s, capturing its dancers in moments of rehearsal, preparation and repose. Here, Lopokova is observed informally rather than in performance, giving the drawing a rare sense of immediacy. Knight’s handwritten inscription, “Lopokova / Diaghilev Ballet”, identifies both the sitter and the company and most likely dates the work to circa 1920–21.

These drawings by Dame Laura Knight were gifted from a private collection for Good Figures in 2015, the inaugural exhibition of Candida Stevens Gallery. Knight was a natural starting point for the gallery: a pioneering woman artist whose independence and determination helped open doors for those who followed. Ranging across dancers, circus performers and animals, the selection reveals her exceptional ability to capture movement, character and theatrical life with remarkably economical lines.