- 8
Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A.
Description
- Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A.
- The Spire
- signed and dated 1949.
- oil on panel
- 27.5 by 37cm.; 10¾ by 14½in.
Provenance
Condition
"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."
Catalogue Note
What is typical too is that against this back-drop (and Lowry’s work always has an element of theatre to it) the artist has arranged small groups of figures, some loosely forming a crowd, others isolated and alone with their thoughts, all wrapped up against a pervading cold. These figures are usually dressed predominantly in black, but Lowry here takes the chance to add some painterly flair in the contrasts between the women’s long skirts and the shawls wrapped tightly around their shoulders. It is a passage such as this – finished in the bright red dot of the do-walker’s hat – that belies the notion of Lowry as an ‘unsophisticated’ painter.
What makes The Spire slightly unusual, however, is in the manner in which it is painted. By 1949, Lowry had already honed his unique style of creating landscapes of sharply delineated architecture set against dirty white skies and pavements, a deliberately abstract approach designed to connote the hardness of city life and to isolate his figures, drawing them out from their environment and thus giving them weight and individuality. The Spire, on the other hand, is suffused with a brooding, smoky atmosphere, with a much narrower tonal range than one associates more with Lowry works of the 1920s – not the 1940s.
The 1920s were the period when Lowry was still very much under the influence of the painter Adolphe Valette, an Impressionist of the Parisian tradition, who painted the grimy streets and broiling wharves of Manchester in misty hues of brown, blue and black. Valette also taught during his time in Manchester and Lowry was, perhaps unsurprisingly, his most dedicated pupil, as he too had already decided that Manchester would be his subject. The Spire, then, can be seen as Lowry revisiting both his master Valette and his own work of the 1920s, a Proustian recherche du temps perdu, albeit glimpsed from the top deck of the bus to Pendlebury.