Laurence Stephen Lowry did not just paint northern scenes. He visited the south coast looking for ships and ferry s to paint. On one of these trips he visited Winchester where he observed a bearded lady pushing a perambulator. Lowry started to sketch the woman who strongly objected and used all sorts of foul language to let Lowry know it! Lowry recalled this moment and he was even more amazed that this happened in Winchester of all places!
LS Lowry was born 1St November 1887, He had his first job in 1904 where he "drifted into" office work as a clerk with a Manchester accountant. There is a drawing surviving "yachts" 1902,
Employment allowed him to take private tuition in art, this accounts for the few still life drawings of around 1906-1914.
He also went to the Manchester College of Art at All Saints for evenings from 1905, he is quoted "I saw people there, I liked the life.It was good to meet people there" the books write of Lowry as "having a temperament" and loving a lonely life, unsociable, he did not fit in, he moved in art circles, he was not good at still life, teachers found him impossible.The influence of his teachers come through in paintings "Landscape" 1912 and "Country lane" 1914.
Financial hardship hit the Lowrys and they had to move down from respectable Victoria Park to Pendlebury. This was very upsetting for his parents who had worked hard, this was seen by them as failure,
Industrial artist
In Pendlebury Lowry started to notice industry, the "thump thump thump" of steam hammers, the mills with the incessant "clackerty clack" of the shuttle on the loom, he noticed the rows of cottages leading to the big red mill at Acme.This was the turning point when Lowry knew he had to paint.the date now is about 1912, he had become a rent collector for the Pall Mall Property Company. I can imagine the slice of life that this job gave him, calling on the poorer homes with large families, seeing life at ground level. He worked as a rent collector until he retired in 1952.
He joined Salford School of Art for evening classes in 1915, this is where he studied his work an the match stick figures developed.
Although I like his crowded match stick and industrial pictures most, It must be remembered that there are many still life, country scenes and seascapes. In 1928 he stopped attending art school. His father died in 1932 leaving debts, his mother was bed ridden and Lowry had to care for her, he is working by day and painting by night from the years of observation of people. He is a very withdrawn person. Lowry had some exhibitions but no real success as an artist. In fact Lowry's greatest regret was that his mother died in 1939 just as he became recognized by the art world. Pendlebury was grim. 117 Station Road still stands, still darkened by industrial grime (so the books say). This was the age of smog, deep heavy smoke and fog that would linger for weeks. Everything would be gray. There were many industrial injuries. The second world war broke out. This did not seem to affect Lowry much. he did some duties as a fire watcher in Manchester. He got an invite to become a war artist and painted going to work.
With out his family lowry lost heart, the house fell into dis-repair and he left Pendlebury in 1948 when the landlord re-possessed the house. He then moved to Mottram-in-Longdendale, Cheshire. On the more human side, Lowry apparently collected clocks in his living room, but they all told different times. When asked he reportedly said that he didn't want to know the real time. He bought what is described as an "ugly stone built house" called The Elms. he lived here until he died in 1976.
Retirement
Lowry retired from the Pall Mall Property Company in 1952,He had been supported by the firm and was a trusted member of staff, they allowed him time off for exhibitions.in retirement he was free he continued to travel draw and paint. Lowry wanted to be taken seriously about his art. He did not want anyone to know that he worked for the Pall Mall Property Co. this was not revealed to the general public until he died.
During his life Lowry had painted and drawn some 2000-3000 pieces. Harold Wilson had offered him a knighthood and had used "The Pond" as his official christmas card in 1964. Lowry had been on a first day cover, his stamp "Coming out of school" was the highest value stamp in a series depicting great British artists in 1967. In 1977 Michael Colman & Brian Burke wrote the hit single "Matchstalk Men & Matchstalk cats and dogs" (matchstick or matchstalk?)
(click stamp to see full first day cover and insert card)
Lowry had no wife or family. He left his estate to a lady he first met in 1957. Carol Lowry, then a 13 year old school girl, wrote to her namesake asking for advice on how to progress to become an artist. Without any warning Lowry turned up on her doorstep! They became friends. It was a total shock to Carol when 19 years later lowry left her his estate.
LANCASHIRE SCENE 1925
PENDLEBURY 1936
THE WASTE GROUND -1949
PICCADILLY GARDENS, MANCHESTER 1954
I wanted a copy of "Going to the match" by L.S.Lowry and I couldn't find it! So I've collected as much info as I could on the web and now I want to build a site.
What I need now is pictures, posters, postcards (any quality-please e-mail or post me a post card ! ),details of books (titles & publishers), catalogs,info... please feel free to contribute!
GOING TO THE MATCH 1928 . As named in Mervyn Levy's book The paintings of L S Lowry, oils & watercolours.
TODAY (27.4.00) THE LOWRY IN SALFORD QUAYS OPENED. FREE ADMISSION IS PROMISED AND 100 LOWRY PICTURES ARE ON SHOW AT ANY ONE TIME
LS Lowry is a great way to introduce kids to art and history at the same time. See the story below, It must have been great fun.
Leesland Junior School have recently completed a World War II project and decided to produce as a year group, one of the paintings by L.S Lowry, Rolf Harris style!.
Around ninety children painted a small section each and the end result is spectacular.
Gosport Discovery Centre displayed the huge V E Celebrations, painting which is over 10’ wide and 3’ long!.
The teachers focused the children on three main areas of the picture. Mrs Juliet Hamilton looked at character for drama presentations, Mrs Hilary Bremner, subject matter & colour palette. Mrs Anna Dawes (project co-ordinator) divided the picture into ninety pieces and challenged the children to reproduce one of Lowry’s famous paintings.
In 2004 Rolf Harris hosted TV’s biggest Arts event in a live BBC One TV special. Rolf on Art: The Big Event, in which he and the public recreated Constable’s Haywain on a giant scale in Trafalgar Square.The picture will be displayed soon, in the Education section 'The Studio' at The Lowry Art Gallery in Salford in Manchester.
Some of the children involved.
A great project,
My book by Mervyl Levy calls the painting "Football ground", the BBC call it going to the match. Who is right?
"LS Lowry" by Michael Leber & Judith Sandling. It is a paper back A4 size book of 142 pages featuring 28 colour plates, 50 black & white plates, and many more smaller drawings with a title description and brief providence information, a total of 440 pictures, nice book. >
The Life of L.S.Lowry,A Biography - Allen Andrews 1977
A brilliant book, You will have to search your library for this one... lots of background tales, easy reading, no art but lots of black and white photos of Lowry and his life.
Lowry himself" this is a 200mm X 200mm booklet of black & white photos by Crispin Enrich, 24 pages of photos of Lowry painting, at home , and just on the street!
"The paintings of LS Lowry - Oil paintings and water colours" BY MERVYN LEVY, Published 1975 re-printed 1981-probably out of print. 130 plates mainly black & white,but this is very complimentary to the Leber & sandling book as it is mainly privately owned artwork .
The Lowry Lexicon An A-Z of LS Lowry by Shelly Rhode. This is a clever way of interesting childern into art and Lowry . Ps Adults can enjoy it too!
"Lowry - A visionary artist" by Michael Howard.... Hard back .... 250 pages lots of good colour plates and a very different set of pictures are included such as seascapes, mannequins, country landscapes and portraits. A lot of research has gone into this book and it looks into Lowry himself with some depth.(This book has some controversial views about Lowry) This book will take time to read!
Ls Lowry by David Mc lean.... This is a small paperback (25 pages) perfect for children as an introduction to art & history. This book has a very readable history of Lowry & a nice collection of Lowrys matchstick paintings and townhouses. Caution this book comes up at rediculous price on amazon- shop around!
Lowry's City Leber & Sandling, A fantastic book with 200 pictures and photos as it was then and how it is today
A Simple Man-DVD Commissioned to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the painter L.S. Lowry in 1987, this BAFTA award-winning dramatic ballet celebrates the life and work of a unique memorable production performed by the Northern Ballet Theatre, led by ex-Royal Ballet stars Christopher Gable and Moira Shearer. (I have not yet seen this dvd)
Also, you may wish to visit "The Lowry" web site. This multi-million pound art center in Salford is home to around 300 works of Lowry (some in storage). It displays the lowry pictures in a free area there is also a shop, which should be on-line soon after a rebuild of the web site in Dec 2001. http://www.thelowry.com/
I have contacted "The Lowry" asking where the website has gone? Apparently it has suffered some bugs and has been removed for a total re-build. If you need to contact "The Lowry" booking office ring them on 0161 876 2000. They also have a number of prints and books , mugs etc for sale in thier shop.
THE POND IS A COMPILATION OF THAT LOWRY HAS PUT TOGETHER FROM MEMORY. LOWRY WORKED ALL DAY AND PAINTED FROM 10PM TO 2 AM.
GALLERIES
The best collection is held by Manchester Art Gallery. I don't know how much is on show, so some feedback is required. .....
There is one Lowry on view at Southampton City Art Gallery. The city own two."The floating bridge" and "The canal bridge", but I believe the one on view was "An industrial town".
Isherwood
Can you help?
I've had a question I can't answer. I've tried the search engines and I got knowhere, it reads .... " I read somewhere that Lowry was a big fan of James Lawrence
I've had questions about prices of originals. This is out of my knowledge. If you Know of the sale of a Lowry, Its price, mail it to me.
..... If you own a lowry and some one offers you a few hundred pounds, do your research . here are some examples from the 1995 Millers Price Guide....
"Lonely House" 1926 pencil...
soft picture of a house on rolling hills 10" X 15"
£3,500-4000
INDUSTRIAL SCENE 1965
There is one related site for those interested in industrial history. Fred Dibnah is fascinated by it, he was drawn in to steam, chimneys and traction engines. this link to the BBC site is very informative.
A MANUFACTURING TOWN -1922
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR BIGGER IMAGE
"FLOATING BRIDGE 1956" ( THERE IS ANOTHER ONE OWNED BY SOUTHAMPTON GALLERY JUST BEFORE IT LANDS WITH THE PEOPLE CRAMMED ON)
1836 - 1977 The Floating bridge was a (pair of) chain ferry built across the river Itchen. (Woolston to Southampton). All the people from the east of the city used it to get to work. My Mum used to cycle about 6 miles and cross the Itchen on this ferry to go to work at the gas board! THERE IS NOW A DEDICATED FLOATING BRIDGE PAGE AT
CLICK HERE FOR NAVIGATION BAR AND MAIN INDEX.. This page has a lot of images and should load in 2 min. at 56k.
