Lot 9
  • 9

Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A.

Estimate
50,000 - 80,000 GBP
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A.
  • Children
  • signed and indistinctly dated
  • oil on panel
  • 13.5 by 18.5cm.; 5¼ by 7½in.
  • Executed circa 1960.

Provenance

Alex. Reid & Lefevre Ltd, London
Private Collection
Their sale, Grounds & Co., Wisbech, 27th May 1994, lot 66, where acquired by the late owner

Condition

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 is providing a secure and stable structural support. Paint Surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer. The artist has incised the paint film to shape the right most figure's hand. This area is stable. 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. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 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."

Catalogue Note

‘I did the life drawing for twelve solid years as well as I could, and that, I think, is the foundation of painting. I don’t think you can teach painting because everybody’s colour sense is different…the model is there and you either get it right or wrong, you see.’ (Lowry, 1968, quoted in Shelley Rohde, L.S. Lowry, A Life, Haus Publishing Ltd, London, 2007, p.36)

Children is a wonderful example of how Lowry’s many years of artistic training, culminated in a highly sophisticated level of technical prowess. While seemingly a simple scene, when one looks carefully, one begins to appreciate the mastery required to paint such a convincing tableau. Part of Lowry’s genius is his ability to create a story, to pull us into a world, to encourage us to try and work through a social puzzle. In Children, Lowry’s ability to accomplish this is done with an admirable economy. A lamp drawn with eight simple brushstrokes immediately sets the scene - we are out on an everyday city street. Each child, though painted swiftly, is imbued with their own particular sense of character. Each is perfectly weighted - the pose identifiable, from the little boy on the left who turns back to look at the departing group, to the girl’s hand clutching a ball as she walks away - their physical presence rings true, they are caught perfectly mid-action. We begin to wonder what dispute has led the group of children to splinter. What is the relationship between the two boys on the left and the departing four? It is Lowry's ability to convey a convicing and intiguing narrative, painted with a matter of fact frankness, that makes such works so unique.

Lowry's artistic training began with art courses at the Municipal College of Art in Manchester, later studying under the French painter Adolphe Valette. Although their relationship was at times tempestuous, they certainly had a mutual respect, and Valette was undoubtedly an extremely influential tutor for Lowry, who was stimulated by the older artist’s knowledge of the Impressionists, of everything which was current in Paris. Valette, somewhat eccentric in his teaching methods, took the position at Manchester only under the proviso that he be allowed to teach via demonstration rather than the usual lecture format. He would walk amongst the students, observing their work and occasionally pausing to sketch on the corner of their paper to demonstrate some technique or another that could be incorporated in the on-going piece.

Lowry’s education continued in 1909, when he began taking life drawing classes at the Salford School of Art, in 1915 moving into the artist and critic Bernard D. Taylor’s course. In 1918 he was accepted into the prestigious life class at the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts and while he worked during the day for The Pall Mall Property Company collecting rents, he continued to attend the life class for another 10 years.