This picture is a remarkable example of the advances in the recognition of female artists in the early twentieth century, not only because it was inspired by the male-dominated world of an army-camp but that it depicts such a traditionally 'male subject'. It even won a medal at the Olympic games in 1928.

Boxing in Camp, also known as The Light Heavy-Weights was completed in Knight's studio in Cornwall in 1918, based on sketches made in 1917 at Witley army camp, near Godalming. Knight had been sent to the camp by the art critic Paul G. Konody on behalf of the Canadian newspaper tycoon Lord Beaverbrook, to paint a fourteen-foot canvas for the Canadian War Record of the subject of ‘Physical Training in a Camp’. Knight had intended to paint the naked soldiers of the 156th Canadian Infantry Battalion bathing in a sunlit river, like the pictures of Cornish local lads she had painted in the glittering coves of Lamorna. However when she finally obtained permission to paint in the camp and arrived at Witley in November she was crestfallen to find herself surrounded by mud and grey skies, ‘row after row of brown huts, and khaki-clad figures drearily standing about in the mud. There was no river at all for miles as far as I knew.’ (ibid Knight, p.212) She was suffering from a cold and had found difficulty finding anywhere to stay in Godalming because every available room was occupied by Londoners escaping the air-raids. Unhappily she sought a new subject for her commission and Konody did not like her alterative suggestion of painting the Scotties washing their knees in the horse-troughs on a Saturday evening before meeting their girlfriends.

After three weeks in the camp, feeling increasing frustrated, Knight noticed a barber’s hut where a man was being shaved; ‘I could see through the lather a cauliflower ear, a half-closed eye and a beetling brow, so I waited outside while he was cleaned up, and when he came out I accosted him with, “Are you a boxer?” He said he was and promptly invited me to come at once to the gymnasium where he reigned supreme. Here was a subject at last with a vengeance!’ (ibid Knight, p.212) This boxer, Joe Sears, became devoted to Knight – a genuine friend who would walk with her the three miles to her hotel to ensure that she was safe and dined with her every Saturday evening. Sears opened his gymnasium to Knight as a studio and she was immediately fascinated by the movements of the sparring men. The Captain of that part of the camp, Captain Simpson Ray told all of the men to moderate their language in deference to Knight. ‘My “studio” became the central interest of the camp. The men spent all the t.mes they could sitting round the big tortoise stove that had on it a large tin of water, serving to wash my paint-brushes in, anyone’s hands and Joe’s face. The water was infrequently changed. The dreary ugliness and monotony of camp life was stamped on the men’s faces, sick for their homes and their own big country. We all had barking coughs through smoking too many cigarettes: I was fed with a new one directly an end was reached.’ (ibid Knight, p.213) The huge canvas depicting Sears sparring with another soldier, Physical Training Witley Camp, went to the Canadian War Museum in Ottowa to fulfil the commission that Knight had originally received. However there were a handful of other paintings, of other boxers that Knight made during her t.mes at Witley, including the present one. According to an article in The Graphic in 1918 when Boxing in Camp, The Light Heavy-Weights was included in Knight's first solo exhibition, the present painting depicts Sergeants Rolph and Cocayne - presumably in Sears' ring.

Knight remained fascinated by boxing for the rest of her life and in 1923 she became Vice President pf the United Amateur Wrestling and Weight Training Club in London. Five years later Knight sent Boxing in Camp, Light Heavy-Weights to the Olympic games in Amsterdam in 1928 as 'Painting' was one of the official competitions at the Olympiads at that t.mes . From the 460 paintings by artists from eighteen countries, Knight's painting was awarded a Silver Medal, beaten only by the Dutch artist Isaac Israel's The Red Rider. Boxing in Camp, The Light Heavy-Weights was clearly special to the artist and remained in her possession until her death more than half a century after it was painted. Almost all of the other pictures painted at Witley Camp have disappeared and Boxing in Camp, The Light Heavy-Weights is a highly important rediscovery by one of the early Twentieth Century's most pioneering and successful female artists.

This picture will be included in the Catalogue Raisonné on the artist's works, currently being compiled by Mr R. John Croft FCA, the artist's great nephew to whom we are grateful for his input in this catalogue entry.