L S Lowry | Industrial Scene | Going to Work

L S Lowry | Children (detail from The Pond) 1950

L S Lowry | Man Taken Ill

Laurence Stephen Lowry (1 November 1887 – 23 February 1976) was an English artist born in Stretford, Lancashire. This image “The Mill Scene” (1965) oil on canvas belongs to the Estate of LS Lowry. Many of his drawings and paintings depict nearby Salford and surrounding areas, including Pendlebury, where he lived and worked for over 40 years. He is well known for his “matchstick men“, painted mysterious unpopulated landscapes, brooding portraits, and the unpublished “marionette” works, which were only found after his death.  He has famously quoted about himself:

“You don’t need brains to be a painter, just feelings.” and  “I am not an artist. I am a man who paints.”

• Interestingly, five Lowry art works were stolen from the Grove Fine Art Gallery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport on 2 May 2007. The most valuable were “The Viaduct”, estimated value of £700,000 and “The Tanker Entering the Tyne”, which is valued at over £500,000. “The Surgery”, “The Bridge at Ringley” and “The Street Market”, were also stolen. The paintings were later found in a house Halewood near Liverpool. Thank goodness!

Another interesting ‘pearl’ comes from Terry Gilliam’s 1985 film “Brazil,” pays homage to Lowry through both the incorporation of ‘Lowryesque’ cityscapes and the name of its chief protagonist (Sam Lowry). Remember the cry: “Has anyone here seen Lowry?”

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Source: Levy, Mervyn. Selected Paintings of L.S. Lowry. Jupiter: London, 1976