#ruby loftus

[whats-in-a-sentence]

This 1943 painting by Laura Knight (1877-1970) depicts 21-year-old Ruby Loftus (2921-2004) working at an industrial lathe cutting the screw of a breech-ring for a Bofors anti-aircraft gun. Ruby became an expert in the production of breech-rings in just seven months – something that usually took years. After the war, Ruby and her husband John Green emigrated to Canada and she never worked in a factory or engineering again.

"Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History" - Philippa Gregory

[ec-phrasis]

Laura Knight, Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech-ring, 1943

[wigmund]

From Wikipedia Picture of the Day; March 8, 2018:

Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring is a 1943 painting by the British painter Laura Knight depicting a young woman, Ruby Loftus (1921–2004), working at an industrial lathe as part of the British war effort in World War II. The painting was commissioned by the War Artists' Advisory Committee, and is now part of the Imperial War Museum's art collection. The painting brought instant fame to Loftus, and has been likened to the American figure of "Rosie the Riveter".

Painting: Laura Knight

[femme-de-lettres]

Large (Wikimedia)

It's unusual, dear reader, for anything painted as recently as 1943 to come into the public domain.

The copyright to this, however—Dame Laura Knight's Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech-Ring—belonged to the government of the United Kingdom, since it was made as a War Artists Advisory Committee commission, and so had a much shorter span.

As to the content of the painting, according to the Imperial War Museums, "[m]aking a Bofors Breech ring was considered the most highly skilled job in the factory, normally requiring eight or nine years training. Loftus was aged 21 at the time of the painting and had no previous factory experience."