A delightful illustrated map has been launched to coincide with the opening of the exhibition Dame Laura Knight: I Paint Today at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum. The exhibition opened Saturday 13 January and runs until Sunday 30 June 2024.

The illustrated map, produced in partnership with author Heather Whatley, the Dame Laura Knight Society and Malvern Hills tourism, highlights the many places in Malvern which have associations with Dame Laura Knight; many of the places illustrated are locations where Laura Knight painted.

Dame Laura Knight was the first female artist welcomed into the Royal Academy. Her love of Worcestershire and the Malvern Hills inspired her art throughout the later years of her life.

From 1933 Laura Knight and her husband, Harold were frequent visitors to Malvern and fell in love with the dramatic landscape of the Malvern Hills which became a subject of her much-loved paintings. Knight claimed she did her best landscapes in Malvern and her paintings of this period demonstrate her love of the countryside in all seasons. She would start her day with a walk over the Malvern Hills, using make-shift studios around the hills to create from, and then meet fellow artists to 'take the water'. Using the map people can walk in Laura Knight's footsteps and enjoy the views which Laura loved to paint on her beloved Malvern Hills.

At the outbreak of World War Two, Knight enlisted with the War Artists Advisory Committee. From the slopes of the Malvern Hills, she watched the bombings of Coventry and Birmingham. Laura painted many iconic images of the war including a pictorial record of the Nuremburg trials.

Despite moving back to London after Harold's death, familiar echoes of the Malvern landscape that Dame Laura Knight loved so much can be detected in her paintings right up until the end of her life.

Victoria Carman of Visit the Malverns commented: “We are very excited to shine a light on the extraordinary life and prolific work of Dame Laura Knight and are particularly pleased to revisit her connections with our beautiful town through this illustrated map.”

The illustrated map can be purchased from Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum and Malvern Tourist Information Centre for just £3.

The exhibition I Paint Today brings a stirring selection of Knight's work to Worcestershire and focuses on key events, characters and achievements which helped to shape her life and career. Works from the Worcester City collection are displayed alongside loans from regional and national collections including the Imperial War Museum, to help tell the story of a woman who grew out of the Victorian era and developed and adapted her craft through a period of tumultuous change.

The exhibition runs from 13 January – 30 June at Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum. The Art Gallery & Museum is open Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 4pm and Sunday 10am – 3pm. Tickets can be booked at www.museumsworcestershire.org.uk

To compliment the exhibition at Worcester Art Gallery 'I Paint Today' which runs from 13 January – 30 June 2024 and the Dame Laura Knight Trail around The Malverns there is an exhibition of prints by the artist on display at Malvern Library  downstairs in the café.

At the height of her fame, Dame Laura Knight (1877 – 1970) was probably the best known female artist in the world.  Rated as the first British female impressionist, from humble beginnings she gained an international reputation as a painter of modern life.  She declared simply 'I paint today'.

The exhibition runs in two parts: 24 January – 28 February  2024 and 3 April – 27 April  2024.

The exhibition has been created by the Dame Laura Knight Society which is based in Malvern. Find out more about the Dame Laura Knight Society on their website: https://www.damelauraknightsociety.co.uk/