Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A.

Monty Bloom
Sale, Christie's London, 21st November 1969, lot 56
Sale, Christie's London, 15th March 1985, lot 267
Acquired by the present owner circa 2001

The board is very slightly bowed. There are areas of frame abrasions to the extreme edges, most noticeably to the top right corner, which is a little compressed. There are one or two slight areas of rubbing to some of the raised elements of thicker impasto, but this excepting the work appears in very good overall condition. The work has recently benefitted from a light surface clean. Ultraviolet light reveals isolated areas of fluorescence to the extreme edge, most prominently to a horizontal line running along the top edge, most probably in line with a previous frame abrasion. Housed in a thin slip frame, inside a larger, ornate gilt frame. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

For working class families in the early 20th century – the decades that all of Lowry's paintings inevitably tip their hat to, regardless of when they were actually painted – the ‘factory fortnight’ holiday represented a break from work, but not necessarily a break from the city, as entire neighbourhoods, even towns, decamped to seaside resorts, many of which, like Lytham St Anne’s or Rhyl where Lowry spent his holidays as a child, were only a short train ride from the metropolis.

Working men and women behaved the same way at the seaside as they did in town, taking care to act properly and dressing in their best clothes, even for the beach, which could end up as crammed as city streets. In the North-West of England, only the bright lights of Blackpool hinted at any other way to be: there was certainly none of the calme, luxe et volupté that the Post-Impressionists indulged in on the Cote d’Azur, or even a glimpse of the bourgeois decadence that the Impressionists found on the slightly chillier beaches of Normandy.

What Lowry found fascinating is the hint of the surreal, as city life is transposed to a new setting – all the social relationships are still there, carried out with the same formality, but the context is devoid of the presence of the factory or mill that shape those social conventions. They are actors on an empty stage. In Figures on a Beach, if it wasn’t for their summer clothes – light pastel colours instead of black – the holiday-makers would look, for the most part,  like they were on their way to work. Only the children and maybe the figure in the centre, in his white trousers and well-cut fawn coat, leaning on a cane, can be said to be properly ‘at leisure’, the latter a portrait of the artist perhaps, who by 1960 was certainly enjoying more away days by the sea.

Lowry's sophistication as a painter is something that is often overlooked due to the power of his subject-matter, but in works such as Figures on a Beach, the subtlety of his use of colour to modulate the thickly-painted surface and the absolute economy with which he delineates figures, investing them with mood and personality in a simple flick of the brush, is clear to see.  The seaside offered Lowry, as a painter, different possibilities, freeing his hand to looser, more impressionistic touches.  His fascination as an artist, however, for the disjointed life of the city, remains, just as it did for those working-class families taking in the bracing air.