Cheeky is the word that springs to mind. Placed centrally, highly visible at the end of what used to be known informally at the National Portrait Gallery as the Statesmen’s Corridor, now hangs one of the most significant bums in art.
Laura Knight’s audacious 1913 self-portrait, showing her simply dressed and painting a nude female model (Ella Louise Naper), is a middle finger elegantly raised to the art establishment, at a time when access to life drawing was restricted for women. Damn you, it says, I am an artist and a woman, and I do this at least as well as you, even if you do your best to make me do it backwards, and in heels.
