Artwork copyright Gwen Knight. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Diva, 1994

Gwen Knight
(American, born 1913, died 2005)

Location: Seattle Central College, Seattle

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Gwen Knight's portraits explore the essence of her subjects. Diva presents a starry-eyed opera singer, painted with strong brushstrokes and rich colors. Knight tells us about this woman by the tilt of her head, her open mouth, her eyes gazing into the distance, the gesture of her hand, and other details.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Seattle Vocational Institute.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Artist Gwen Knight (1913-2005) explored personal identity and emotional narratives in her expressive, figurative paintings and prints.

Gwen Knight grew up in Barbados, Missouri, and Harlem, NY. She had an interest in all the arts and immersed herself in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. She studied art at Howard University in Washington, D.C. until the Great Depression of the 1930s. Back in Harlem, she studied painting and sculpture, and she joined the Works Progress Administration (WPA) mural project. She went on to be an influential teacher in institutions across America. In 1971, Knight and her husband, artist Jacob Lawrence, moved to Seattle for his teaching position at the University of Washington. They had a life-long partnership of critical guidance and support. Knight’s first solo exhibition was at Seattle Art Museum in 1976. Tacoma Art Museum exhibited a retrospective of her work, "Never Late for Heaven: The Art of Gwen Knight", in 2003.