Epsom Downs 1938

Editor: Laura Knight’s “Epsom Downs,” created in 1938 using oil paint, feels like a snapshot of a specific time. There's a visible social division in the foreground figures versus the blurry background crowd. How do you interpret this work, especially considering the period it was made in? Curator: That’s a fantastic observation about the social division. Knight painted this during a period of significant class consciousness and social change in Britain. The foreground figures, possibly Roma women given the kerchiefs, seem somewhat isolated from the bustle of the horserace. This may hint at the historical marginalization of itinerant communities and question the dominant narratives of British leisure and entertainment. Editor: So, it's less about the excitement of the races and more about who gets to participate, or how they are positioned within that event? Curator: Precisely. Think about how issues of representation affect both the portrayed subjects and Knight herself as a woman artist gaining visibility in a male-dominated art world. Consider how power dynamics inherent in both class and gender interplay here. Do you find the composition reinforces or challenges these power dynamics? Editor: I hadn’t thought of it that way. The figures seem grounded and independent, almost like they’re observing the spectacle rather than being a part of it. Perhaps that stance, literally being ‘grounded’, can be read as resistance to that marginalisation. Curator: It certainly invites that interpretation. And the fact that Knight, as a female artist, chose these figures—women, potentially Romani—as the subjects of her painting contributes to a disruption of conventional perspectives of leisure, visibility, and belonging. Editor: This gives me so much to think about; how art can uncover the layers of society. Thanks! Curator: Indeed! Looking at art through a socio-political lens is a great way to consider unspoken narratives and to reveal voices that history often tries to silence.