of the 20th century. Challenging Convention, brilliantly curated by the Laing’s keeper of art Lizzie Jacklin, features 60 works of Vanessa Bell (1879-1961), Laura Knight (1877-1970), Gwen John (1876-1939) and Dod Procter (1890-1972), drawn from up to 30 lenders. The artists were contemporaries, living in times of enormous changes and the exhibition highlights the strides they made in a male-dominated field. Gwen John, sister of the celebrated painter Augustus John, found fame while living and working in Paris. She preferred solitude and avoided “family conventions and ties”, y...