Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A.

Alex. Reid & Lefevre Ltd, London
K.G. Allison, Esq
Their sale, Christie's London, 19th July 1968, lot 184 
Richard Green, London, where acquired by Mary and Christopher Soames, 7th August 1968

The painting is on the original, unlined canvas. On close examination it is possible to see some very fine line of paint cracking across the composition. These appears stable and do not detract for the paintings aesthetic appeal. There is a very small area of paint loss in the lower left corner, above the figure in the blue jumper. Ultraviolet light reveals several small spots of florescence in the sky at the upper left of the composition. Overall and subject to the above the work appears to be in very good condition. The picture is presented in a gilt frame with a linen covered slip. Please contact the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present lot.
"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."

It is a misconception that Lowry’s painting only appeals to those who truly know the bleak industrial heartlands that were his inspiration. The collectors who lined up to buy his work from the Lefevre Gallery and Crane Kalman Gallery in the 1950s and 60s came from all walks of life, including high society. And it could be said that it was a purchase of Lowry by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, that finally set him on the path to becoming one of Britain’s best-known artists. First-hand knowledge of the factory towns of the Midlands and the North certainly helps with understanding the many nuances of Lowry’s art, which is never as simple as it appears, but his abiding subject is, in fact, not the city, but the people who live in it. For Mary Soames, daughter of a Prime Minister, wife of a diplomat and – perhaps most importantly – a former servicewoman who spent the War manning anti-aircraft batteries and who then toured a war-ravaged Europe as Aide de Camp to her father, Lowry’s true subject is one she understood perfectly well and which she shared – a passion for people.

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 recently acquired right to a paid holiday was something to be dreamt of all year. Whilst they were a break from work, however, they were not necessarily a break from the city, as entire towns or neighbourhoods (if defined by particular trades) decamped to seaside resorts for the ‘factory fortnight’, with many of these resorts, such as Lytham St Anne’s or Rhyl where Lowry stayed at as a child, actually only a short train ride from the smoky metropolis. Working men and women behaved in the same way at the seaside as they did on their days off in town, dressing in their ‘Sunday best’ 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 the hints of bourgeois decadence that the Impressionists found on the slightly chillier beaches of Normandy.

What Lowry finds fascinating is that hint of the surreal, as city life transposes to the seaside. People still hurry here and there, but are not being summoned by the whistle of the mill or pit. Men stand about, but with pleasure, rather than with the oppressive aimlessness of the long-term unemployed. And most of all - even though they are there throughout his cityscapes - the children, for once in their lives, get to be children: walking dogs, riding bicycles, playing hide and seek in the dunes. In On the Sands, a lone building (a classic Lowry constructed structure: part work-house, part lodging house, part church) seems to call the factory workers back to their everyday lives, but the artist carefully dots his figures all around this still centre, never being drawn in, like dancers around a Maypole.