L. S. LOWRY (BRITISH 1887–1976) §
THE MOURNERS, 1955
£17,010
Auction: 15 JANUARY 2025 FROM 10:00 GMT
Description
signed and dated 19 Dec 1955, pastel on paper
Dimensions
26cm x 36.5cm (10 ¼in x 14 3/8in)
Provenance
The Reverend Geoffrey S. Bennett, by 1966;
Sandra Lummis Fine Art, London, from whom acquired by Bernard Kelly, July 1986.
Footnote
Exhibited:
Arts Council of Great Britain, L .S. Lowry - Retrospective, 1966, no. 150.
Literature:
Levy, Mervyn, The Drawings of L. S. Lowry, Jupiter Books, London 1979, pl. 142.
Whilst undoubtedly being one of Britain’s most well-known and well-loved artists, L.S. Lowry is also one of our most misunderstood. His popular image is that of an untrained naif painter of ‘matchstick men’, yet this is to ignore entirely the incredible technical and visual sophistication of his work. Lowry was academically trained, as well as being a student of the post-Impressionist master Pierre Adolphe Valette, who taught in Manchester at the beginning of the 20th century. As such, Lowry knew how to draw the weight and balance of a figure, how to convey movement, even if he then chose to express this in a seemingly ‘simplistic’ way. The Mourners is a perfect example of this – no surprise, then, that it was chosen for Lowry’s 1966 Arts Council exhibition, the exhibition that sowed the seeds for his incredible popularity. The sense of the couple’s movement is effortless, as is the sense of the weight of their bodies shifting in their heavy clothes. We can feel the man’s hands in his pockets. And even though viewed from behind, we know exactly where both their gazes fall and as such we can feel where their feelings lie. Furthermore, the space between them, perfectly judged, becomes the emotional heart of the work. And their world – the dirty, smoky city – is evoked entirely through a few intersecting lines and a couple of smudges of pastel. This drawing is pure Impressionism, at its best – not Degas gazing down from the stalls at the ballet, but another genius painter seeing all of human life from the top deck of the no.52 to Pendlebury.