Modern British & Irish Art

Everyone's Talking About...The Cricket World Cup

By Martin Dean
British painter L.S. Lowry's atmospheric and intimate work, A Cricket Match, will feature in Sotheby's upcoming Modern & Post War British Art sale from 18–19 June, during the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup is underway, and teams from around the world are locked in fierce competition for the ultimate cricketing prize. Taking place in England and Wales this year, the 10 team competition runs from 30 May to 14 July.

The perfect circumstance, then, for a very cricket-focused painting. Lowry's 1938 painting, A Cricket Match transports the viewer to the very roots of cricket, far from the glamour of the big leagues, and instead shows a scene emblematic of British community life: a backstreet cricket match played by local children on a patch of waste ground behind their terraced houses.

The painting is a moving evocation of childhood joy, the thrill at the thwack of ball on bat, and the carefree spirit of youth that can make a cricket match happen anywhere, however makeshift the space and equipment. A Cricket Match comes from the collection of Neil and Gina Smith and is a highlight of our upcoming sale Modern & Post-War British Art.

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