Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A.

Alex. Reid and Lefevre Ltd, London, where acquired by the present owner in 1964

The following report has been prepared by Hamish Dewar Fine Art Conservation: Structural Condition: The canvas is unlined on the artist's original keyed wooden stretcher with a canvas-maker's stamp on the reverse. The painting is structurally sound and secure and it is obviously most encouraging to find the canvas in it's original unlined state. Paint surface: The paint surface has the artist's characteristically unvarnished appearance. Inspection under ultraviolet light shows just two very small retouchings within the figures in the centre left of the composition. Summary: The painting would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition with the most minimal intervention in the past. 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."

The scale of this beautiful picture accentuates the impact of its fundamental elements and the saturated colour contrasts of the composition. The rendition of this anonymous Lancashire street is powerful and evocative - featuring, as a rarity, the viaduct which is used in the title to highlight the fact.  Also, Lowry, in a noteworthy exception, has included the advance of the automobile as a bus progresses leisurely down the street in the distance whilst lorries and cars can be seen making their way slowly across that viaduct. The artful perspective epitomises L.S. Lowry with his meticulous eye for detail. We are placed at a high viewpoint and purposefully kept away from the action. Lowry subtly guarantees that our attention is focussed on the main event; the hustle and bustle of everyday life on a busy urban street.  

Unlike many of his artworks which rely on horizontal planes of perspective to create depth, in this upright format his receding street serves to lead us towards the central vanishing point and into the city. Lowry achieves this through brilliant craftsmanship which shows his technical abilities and the extent of his art training. Lowry studied at Manchester Municipal College of Art under the French Impressionist Adolphe Valette. Later he attended weekly life classes at Salford School of Art and the incredible skills and artistry he learnt over the years are aptly deployed in this work to create his unique vision of municipal life. Painting at night, referring to sketches, he would often rework canvases over several months to achieve his desired effect. In this work, the architecture which rises up either side of the street as it winds into the distance serves to frame the thoroughfare, focusing our attention further by creating perceptual planes. The richly-coloured buildings lining the right edge of the composition zig-zag in towards the midpoint and these, along with the curve of the wall and pavement on the left side, serve to narrow our vision down the central avenue towards the all-important viaduct, which crosses the centre of the work exactly at our eye line. The significance of this area of the painting has already been alluded to.  

With trademark use of flake-white impasto Lowry captures the bleak, smog-filled environment that he knew so well and imbues the scene with harmonious warmth and a luminous glow. Lowry's range of colours was straightforward but effective. 'I am a simple man, and I use simple materials.  Ivory, black, vermilion, Prussian blue, yellow ochre, flake white and no medium (e.g. linseed oil).  That's all I have ever used in my paintings.  I like oils....I like a medium you work into over a period of time' (L.S. Lowry, quoted in Mervyn Levy, The Paintings of L.S. Lowry, Jupiter Books, London, 1975, p.14). The graduation of tone from the foreground to the background adds to the sense of depth in this composition, as does Lowry's masterly use of colour in the splashes of red and blue of the figures clothing which our eye cannot help but follow through the crowd and into the distance under the viaduct.

This is a scene humming with activity, in which Lowry instinctively captures the movement of people in a city centre. A group of women appear to be gossiping under the lamp post and a brightly-dressed red-headed lady strides confidently across the flow of commuters towards the edge of the painting. As always in Lowry's work the focus is on the smoking chimneys and pointed spire which loom out of the smog in the distance towards which heavily-booted millworkers stride with a calm sense of purpose.