Dame Laura Knight inspecting some of the work after opening the Civil Service Art Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington on 19 February 1935. Dame Laura Knight, DBE (1877-1970) was an English Impressionist painter. Famous for capturing the world of London's theatre district, ballet and the circus, she was a member of the Newlyn School of art and was the first woman artist to be made a Dame of the British Empire. ?TopFoto