Esmond at work in his home studio in 1974
(Photograph courtesy of St Dunstan's)
Letter to The Times
5th May 1987
"May I add a few words to your comprehensive obituary of Esmond Knight? His first love was indeed the theatre, but the second was painting. This started in a small way when he was almost blind and working at Stratford; a fellow actor suggested he take up drawing. Most of his
paintings were done from memory, and the impression one derives from them is a sense
of his experience in the theatre and knowledge
of history. In particular his pictures of scenes
from the medieval wars between France and England successfully capture the excitement
of the conflict. Among his wide-ranging works,
two are outstanding; his "Self-portrait" and
the "Last impression of HMS Hood viewed
from HMS Prince of Wales."
Roland Hardless
It's not entirely surprising that Esmond Knight should have taken up painting as a pastime - the surprising element is that he didn't do it sooner. There were artists on both maternal and paternal sides of his family, notably his great-uncle, John Buxton Knight (1843-1908), a gifted, somewhat volatile landscape painter whose work hangs in the Tate Gallery, London. Esmond was also a collector of traditional art and owned originals by Jan Breughel, John Sell Cotman and David Cox. He had drawn and painted before his disability though nowhere near as much as he did afterwards. In fact he was working on a painting in his cabin prior to the engagement with the battleship Bismarck in which he was blinded in May 1941. "It was a Walrus aircraft, on its catapult," he later recalled to his friend, journalist Ronald Proyer. "Lord knows whatever happened to that one, the last painting I ever did with my full faculty."
It was in 1948 whilst a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-Upon-Avon for a season that he was encouraged to start drawing and painting by his fellow actor Douglas Wilmer. He used watercolour at first but soon moved on to oils which he found easier, although he continued to use watercolour occasionally, especially for designing Christmas cards. His first notable work was a self-portrait as Christopher Sly in The Taming of the Shrew, waiting in the wings to make his entry.
'Actors preparing for King John at Stratford'. Scenes depicting actors in the wings is a recurrent theme in Esmond's work.
(Picture courtesy of Nigel Martin)
For the rest of his life, wherever he lived, Esmond always had a small room converted into a studio, with a larger studio in the attic at Nora's Ark where he could busy himself away between acting commitments. Bearing in mind his limited sight he was remarkably prolific and regularly exhibited his work, notably at the Chelsea Arts Club. He was also very generous in giving away his paintings, as a letter from Laurence Olivier, dated 2nd January 1969, suggests:
Dearest Esmond
Thank you so infinitely much for the lovely painting and so lovely Christmas wishes.
It was so dearly kind of you to think of us. Best wishes for 1969 to you and darling Norah.
I'll be able to give an exhibition of 'Knights' soon.
Always yours
Love
Laurence
Unlike most artists, Esmond was unable to make preparatory sketches and relied entirely on his visual memory for his subjects. When painting a landscape he always started with the sky, deciding how high up the canvas or board the eye line was going to be and using memory to define how light changes as distance increases. "It might be a picture in which the horizon is very, very low. This gives a wonderful feeling of space. Then, if you want to show more, you simply put the horizon up. Then, of course, the stuff in the foreground comes right up to you in the perspective."
A painting by Esmond which was reproduced on Christmas cards in 1967
to help raise money for Moorfields Eye Hospital, London.
Mixing colours in oil - complex enough for perfectly sighted painters - created particular problems. On his palette, colours were laid out in a suitably naval order - red (port) to the left and green (starboard) to the right, with other colours in between and black in the middle. When his already limited sight began to deteriorate in the late 1960s, he relied more and more on others, especially Nora, to identify the shades of colours for him. To give some idea of the problem, Esmond described it thus: "Imagine your left eye is blindfolded. Now close your right eye and open it very gently until the first glimmer of light comes through. That's roughly how much I can see."
"Oil painting is wonderful, particularly if you are painting on board. You make several boss shots and you simply get a rag soaked in turpentine and wash it out and start again, or paint over what you have done and by mistake get a marvellous effect!"
Esmond also experimented with other art forms. In the 1950s he was a member of the Chelsea Pottery and Clay Club run by David Rawnsley, an art director who had worked for Powell and Pressburger in the 1940s. Amongst numerous achievements, Rawnsley was responsible for building (out of wood and canvas) the impressive replica U-boat seen during the early scenes of 49th Parallel. He also constructed the remarkable aerial model of Stuttgart in the bombing sequence in One of Our Aircraft is Missing. Of David Rawnsley, Michael Powell wrote: " … the sort of young man that you wanted to be shipwrecked with on a desert island … tall, broad-shouldered, good-looking, considerate of others - in fact, too good to be true."
At Rawnsley's club Esmond tried his hand at three-dimensional art including sculpting in clay. His work there was recorded for posterity in December 1953 by a Pathé News camera team who visited the club and filmed Esmond busy sculpting a finely detailed dragon. He could be seen seated at a bench surrounded by other keen amateurs, including a vicar and a court photographer, all working under the guiding eye of David Rawnsley himself. The narrator of the film was Eamon Andrews who four years later would be surprising Esmond as the presenter of This is your Life.
During his time living in Chelsea, Esmond's local newspaper, the Westminster & Pimlico News, regularly published details of his activity as an artist. In March 1964 they reported that he had been invited to open an art exhibition in Hertford and that he would be sending along one or two of his own paintings to be exhibited. They also stated that Esmond had previously opened exhibitions in Chelsea and had himself exhibited at the Chelsea Art Society show at the Chenil Galleries - no longer there but was located in the King's Road (181-183 to be precise).
On 10th January 1969, the Westminster & Pimlico News reported on the opening of an art exhibition which included some of Esmond's work as follows:
A slip of the tongue by Lord Boothby, in which he confused Chelsea actor Esmond Knight,
with an artist in Parkhurst Prison, whose work was also being displayed, brought a good-natured
protest from Mr. Knight at the opening on Saturday of an art exhibition at No.33 Warwick Square,
Pimlico. Opening the 13th International Amateur Art Exhibition sponsored by the magazine
The Artist, Lord Boothby said he was particularly glad to see pictures by Lady Balfour of Inchrye,
and Esmond Knight from Her Majesty's Prison, who had put in four pictures which had been accepted.
Mr. Knight interrupted Lord Boothby to say, amid laughter: "I am not inside yet, you know."
Lord Boothby apologised and said he meant that Esmond Knight, the well-known actor,
had had four pictures accepted and there had also been accepted a picture from one
of the inmates of Her Majesty's Prison at Parkhurst.
Ironically, a year later was involved in organising an art exhibition to help a charity consortium called The National Lifeline, which helped ex-prisoners, their families and those with addictions. The Stage magazine printed an article (22nd January 1970) announcing that friends and acquaintances of Esmond would soon be receiving a letter from him enquiring about their artistic abilities. He was seeking paintings, drawings and sculptures from members of the acting profession for an exhibition at the Chenil Galleries, Chelsea, being presented from April 15 to 18. Works by actors and actresses were to be exhibited with artists and others donating works for the exhibition.
On the back of this 1970 painting Esmond wrote: "This is supposed to be old Howe going
back to the 'Charlotte' in full mutiny!"
He had played Lord Howe in Spithead at the
Greenwich Theatre the year before, so presumably a veiled self-portrait.
"I can't read nowadays, so painting is the only thing I can do when I'm not acting." Esmond in 1970
In May 1973, an exhibition of Esmond's paintings was held at the New Town Gallery in Uckfield, East Sussex, which had recently been taken over by Roland Hardless, an admirer of Esmond's work and Esmond as a person. This was the first exhibition in the new gallery and about seventy paintings were hung. It was a considerable achievement for Esmond - the culmination of two years work, and this at a time when the sight in his good eye was beginning to fade. Many people, including friends and colleagues from the theatre, came to see the paintings, and to buy. After three weeks there were only a few left and financially it was a great success for both Esmond and Roland Hardless.
The exhibition was reported widely at the time including this piece in the Sussex Express on 16th May by R.P. (identity unknown) (left). Some of the works mentioned in the article can be seen in the selection of his paintings below, including two of his finest - The Armed Knight and Innis Dodman, at Lands End, and Hadrian's Wall. The latter hangs on the living room wall above my desk - I'm looking at it as I write this. Observing up close - the composition, use of colour and the detailed brushwork - I can only mirror the comments of R.P. and add my astonishment as to how Esmond achieved extraordinary depth of vision and artistic accomplishment with such limited eyesight.
Esmond had specifically asked his family not to organise a memorial service for him when he died. So instead, Nora arranged a posthumous showing of his work that opened on 23rd February 1988 at the Saga Art Gallery in Elystan Street, Chelsea, just across the road from their flat in Cranmer Court. The exhibition consisted of twenty-five pictures including studies of archers at Agincourt that reflected both his appearance in the film Henry V and the one-man show he had devised, written and performed triumphantly towards the end of his remarkable career. Fran was there with her second husband, Nigel Hogg - so too Rosalind, Esmond's brother Gilbert and various actors who had either worked with Esmond or knew him socially. One was Tom Courtenay, Angela Thorne another - both purchased paintings. Other guests included Mrs Pamela Dawkes who loaned her bronze sculpture of Esmond for the occasion.
The Armed Knight and Innis Dodman - Lands End
Oil on canvas (date unknown)
Hadrian's Wall
Oil on board (date unknown)
A Merchant of Venice
(signed and dated 1964)
Very Flat Norfolk
(oil on canvas-board 1969)
A gift from Esmond to Noël Coward on the occasion of his seventieth birthday (16 December 1969).
Inscribed on the reverse: "Dearest Master - with everlasting gratitude - and devotion, from Esmond. 'Very Flat Norfok'"
Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland
(signed and dated 1967)
The Navy's Lion-hearts, The Undismay'd
(signed but not dated)
The following inscription is etched into the back of the frame:
"This picture was said to have been painted by Esmond Knight actor and naval officer
who was at the Battle of the River Plate (sic) where he lost an eye. The picture was
given to me, Tim Mee Power, by my sister-in-law, Katherine Blake, an actress
of some note. This was corroborated by my half-brother, Charles Jarrott, film director."
This probably dates the picture to circa 1969 when Esmond was working with
Katherine Blake on Anne of the Thousand Days. The film was directed by Charles Jarrott.
Blake and Jarrott were married at the time.
Wild Fowling in the Thames Estuary
(signed and dated February 1969)
"And all I ask is a tall ship"
(date unknown)
In the Wings
Oil on canvas (date unknown)
First Night: In the Wings - Stratford on Avon
Oil on canvas (1975)
Hawking on Salisbury Plain
(courtesy of the owner, Paul Beecroft)
Hawking on the Thames Estuary
Watercolour 15 x 19.5cms (date unknown)
Man and Dog in a Woodland Scene
Oil on board (date unknown)
Reflets Dans L'Eau
Oil on board (dated 1962)
Cornish Tin-waifs
Oil on board (dated Oct 1966)
Victoria Embankment
(details unknown)
Murchison Falls, Uganda
(details unknown)
Old Man of Hoy
(signed but not dated)
Norfolk Haybarn
Oil on board (date unknown)
(courtesy of Sue Hunt - Percival Hunt Collections)
Village Cricket
Oil on board (date unknown)
Conemarra
Oil on board (date unknown)
Autumn
Oil on board (1960s - exact date unknown)
The Lake of Mill House
Watercolour with wax crayon (dated 1973)
Knole Park (Sevenoaks)
Watercolour (date unknown)
Hillock
(signed and dated Christmas 1969)
An original sketch from a personalised Christmas card sent to Fran (Esmond's first wife)
and her second husband, Nigel Hogg in 1963. The message inside,
in Nora's handwriting, says:
Fran and Nigel
With much love, Darlings,
and all our loving good wishes
for Christmas and 1964.
from
Nora & Esmond