ls lowry
1887

Name:  Lawrence Stephen Lowry

Born: 1 November 1887

Died:  23 February 1976 (88 yrs)

Home Town:  Stretford, Lancashire

Style:  Lowry painted in a ’naïve, straightforward style', often using block colours and a simplified perspective’.

His most iconic motifs included flat, rectangular buildings; factories with tall, smoking chimneys; and “matchstick men”, or tiny, stick-thin

men, women and children that crowded his cityscapes and landscapes.

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Exhibited:  Salford Museum and Hastings Contemporary Gallery

Why I like him:  You can tell by all the detail that he has a passion for art and puts in details that not many see if they don’t look closely. 

He doesn’t stop at a few people, he has many who convey different messages.

 

History: 

•During his lifetime, Lowry made about 1,000 paintings and over 8,000 drawings

•Born in Stretford, Lowry then spent his early years in a leafy suburb of Manchester.

•At the age of 22, due to financial restrictions he moved to the industrial town of Pendlebury with a landscape of textile mills and factory chimneys.  At first he detested it, but then developed a love for it.

•After leaving school he worked for the Pall Mall Company collecting rents, taking private art lessons

•In 1905 he secured a place at the Manchester School of Art and studied under French Impressionist, Pierre Valette

•From 1915, he spent 10 years at the Royal Technical College (now Salford University).  He developed an interest in industrial landscapes and began to develop his own style.

•The Peel Building where Lowry studied is where his pencil drawing "A View from the window of the Royal Technical College, Salford" (1924) was drawn from the balconied window on the upper floor.

•His oil paintings were impressionistic and dark in tone until he was encouraged by DB Taylor to change his sombre palette and he moved to having white backgrounds

•He painted mysterious unpopulated landscapes, thoughtful portraits and the unpublished "marionette" works, which were only found after his death.

•Lowry only used five colours. stating “I am a simple man. I use simple materials,” he said, “ivory black, vermilion, Prussian blue, yellow ochre, flake white.” His favourite brand of oil paint was Winsor & Newton, which he used throughout his life. 

•He was known for his urban landscapes with figures often referred to as ‘matchstick men’.  He also painted mysterious unpopulated landscapes and portraits.  He also painted his ‘marionette’ works which were only found after his death

•In 1932 his dad died leaving many debts and his mother became confined to her bed.  As she slept, Lowry painted from 10pm-3am when he painted self portraits often called ‘Horrible Heads’.  His expressionism may have been inspired by Van Goghs exhibition in Manchester Art Gallery in 1931.

•In 1943 he became a volunteer fire watcher and an official war artist

•In 1953 he became the Official Artist at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

•After his mothers death, he neglected the upkeep of the house which was then repossessed.

•He was not short of money and bought Mottram in Longdendale, Cheshire where he stayed

•“You don’t need brains to be a painter, just feelings”