Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A.

Alex. Reid & Lefevre Ltd, London, where acquired by Henry Morris on behalf of the Cambridgeshire Schools' Art Collection, 10th February 1945
Their sale, Christie's London, 21st May 2009, lot 91, where acquired by the late owner

Cambridge, Magdalene Street Gallery, Lowry Loan Exhibition, April - May 1967, cat. no.3;
Salford, The Lowry, Lowry's Travels, January - July 2003, with tour to Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, Sunderland;
Salford, The Lowry (long-term loan, January 2003 - March 2009);
London, Tate, Lowry and the Painting of Modern Life, 25th June - 20th October 2013, un-numbered exhibition, illustrated fig.78.

Shelley Rohde, L.S. Lowry, A Life, Haus Publishing Ltd, London, 2007, illustrated p.54-55, also illustrated on the back cover;
Edwin Bowes, Lowry in Berwick, The Berwick-upon-Tweed Preservation Trust, Berwick-upon-Tweed, 1998, illustrated, cat. no.5.

The following condition report has been prepared by Hamish Dewar or Hamish Dewar Ltd., 13 & 14 Mason's Yard, Duke Street, St James's, London, SW1Y 6BU. Structural Condition: The artist's board, which is very slightly bowed, is providing a sound and secure structural support. Paint Surface: The paint surface has the artist's original dry unvarnished appearance and would undoubtedly respond very well to cleaning should this be required. There are two small losses on the upper horizontal framing edge, presumably caused by framing tacks. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows no evidence of any retouching. Summary: The painting would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition and should respond well to cleaning should this be required. Housed behind glass in a thick gilt and painted wooden frame. Unexamined out of frame. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 66424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Few places held such sway over Lowry outside of Manchester as did the small market town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England’s most northerly town and a location that holds an important position within the artist’s oeuvre. Placed mid-way between Edinburgh and Newcastle, on the mouth of the River Tweed, Lowry first visited the town in 1935. Drawn to the winding cobbled streets and higgledy piggledy architecture at once so reminiscent of parts of his hometown, Lowry became closely attached to this new home-from-home, returning frequently until the summer before his death. Following his mother’s death in 1939 the artist even expressed ideas of moving there, ideas which, due to his job as a rent collector with the Manchester firm The Pall Mall Property Company, would never materialise.

It is easy to see how Lowry fell under the town’s spell as it had a great deal to offer the artist in terms of its architecture and seaside location. Whilst as a child he holidayed at the beach resort town of Lytham St Anne’s, Berwick-upon-Tweed remained in his eyes a working town as much as a holiday destination. The artist, always an avid admirer of odd and interesting architecture, was no doubt drawn to the dramatic 28-arch viaduct of the Royal Border Bridge, the rail route linking the town to the South, its winding cobbled streets and its towering eighteenth-century Town Hall, which had itself previously attracted Turner to sketch it when he visited the town in 1831. Whilst Turner used these small sketches of the tower (now in the Tate, London) in his illustration to volume twelve of Walter Scott’s Poetical Works: Berwick-upon-Tweed (circa 1832), for Lowry the centrality of the architecture is matched by his depiction of the characters that fill the busy scene. It stands at the center, yet, as is so often the case in his paintings, it imparts a sense of isolation and loneliness. The tower, much like the artist himself, is an observer over the bustling scene in the foreground, with children running across the square, people going about their daily business and tourists loitering, taking in the scenery. This drama is further punctuated by the three scampering dogs in the foreground, hallmarks of the artist. With bold, characteristic flashes of rich reds and buoyant blues, the scene displays well the artist’s adept and varied use of colour in compositions of the 1930s, and stands as a lasting testament to a place that held a very special position in the artist’s heart. For Lowry Berwick-upon-Tweed was a retreat that offered an un-ending source of inspiration, whether in the town itself or the vast expanse of grey waters stretching down towards Lindisfarne, Bamburgh and beyond.

The present work held an added significance for A.J. Thompson, who was born in Trumpington outside Cambridge and lived in East Anglia for his entire life. Market Place, Berwick-upon-Tweed was purchased from Alex. Reid & Lefevre Ltd, in 1945 by Henry Morris on behalf of the Cambridgeshire County Council, proving what was to be a shrewd investment. Thompson took particular interest in the proceeds from his purchase of the work in 2009 and the benefits that it would provide supporting the council’s cultural programme for children and young adults.

The following work has been requested for loan by Berwick Visual Arts, Berwick-upon-Tweed for their forthcoming exhibition, L.S. Lowry In Berwick and Northumberland, from 21st June to 21st September 2014 at the Granary Gallery.