Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A.

Acquired by the present owner in 1954

The sheet is fully laid down to a backing card, with pin holes visible in all four corners. There are isolated spots of minor staining to the sheet, including to areas surrounding the aforementioned pin holes. A faint line of time staining is also apparent to the extreme edges, most noticeably along the extreme left hand edge. Further very minor areas of staining are apparent, including to an area in the sky in the upper left hand quadrant and to the foot of the female figure on the bench in the background, only visible upon very close inspection. There is a faint crease which may be in line with an old, repaired tear, measuring approximately 2in. in the bottom left hand corner, just below the bottom figure, as well as a slight abrasion in line with a previous framing in the top right corner, visible in the present mount. This excepting the work appears to be in very good overall condition. Housed behind glass in a thin gilt frame and set within a green card mount. 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."

If any were to doubt Lowry’s capacity as a draughtsman, they could do no better than study the group of drawings he produced in the 1929-30 period. Do that, and one would be very hard pressed to deny him a very particular mastery of the pencil.

Drawing was always a key element to his working method. It was the basis of his technique, hard-won through many hours of study in the life room of the Salford Art School, models clad and semi-clad, some in costume, teasing out his understanding of the human figure. It gave him an instant form of record for the scenes he saw in the streets, jotted onto the backs of envelopes or the sheets of a pocket note-book. It allowed him the expansive exploration of those same ideas, building a world in graphite, a medium that echoed the gritty muck of its subjects.

The earliest drawings away from the life-room were perhaps a little stilted, stiff little groups of figures, scored into the paper with an even hard point. Gradually, as the 1920s progressed, he learned the tricks of the medium. As learning a language is so much more than just the words and grammar, Lowry developed the nuances of the pencil, learnt to twist it to his own ends, use the thick blunt line from a soft lead to give substance and structure to a factory building, rub a feather-stroke away with the edge of a thumb to make it the wisp of the first coal smoke of the morning drifting from the chimneys of a terrace. Most importantly, he learnt the most important trick of the great draughtsman, to bring colour from black and white, to make the impression of the subject so intense and convincing that our own brain does the rest. Suddenly we understand the shade and texture of the worn, weathered paint on a tenement door, the grubby grey of paving flags. How? Because Lowry makes the experience feel real. At his best he goes beyond this, letting us even hear and smell the scene. The chatter of shawled women queuing outside a shop, the shouts of children bouncing off brick alleys, the acrid smell of the factories and the chimneys, the dank stink of canal or river.

In March of 1930, Lowry held a very short exhibition. For two days only, ‘A Collection of 25 Pencil Drawings of Ancoats made by Mr L.S.Lowry’ was shown at the Round House, Every Street, Manchester. The drawings shown include some of Lowry’s finest, subtle studies that evoke the streets, factories and back alleys of this industrial neighbourhood. They tread the fine line between literal representation and nostalgic recollection. They recognise the flaws, the dirt, the poverty, but they neither preach nor sentimentalise. They simply feel real; real places, real lives, real spaces. By 1930, when he produced the present work, Lowry had brought his drawing style to a height of achievement that is truly remarkable.