A drawing by the inimitable L.S. Lowry from the end of his career, when his work cast a critical gaze over his fellow man, is coming up for sale in the Modern and Contemporary Art Sale on 28th February. Executed in pencil, “Children in a Crowd” dates from 1969 when Lowry’s drawings had become colder and more critical towards his subjects as he cast a satirical eye on his contemporaries and figures became almost objects of ridicule, in exaggeratedly ill-fitting clothes, shoes and hats. Lowry became interested in depicting, often with hostility, the relationships and interactions between small groups of figures, as can be seen in the present work. He had great difficulty in understanding how humans ever made deep connections with each other, and his drawings at this point in his life are possibly his way of trying to get to grips with the human relationships that he did not really understand in his own isolated life. The sale will also offer a large selection of signed prints after L.S. Lowry, led by his most sought-after print, “Going to the Match”.
Amongst notable lots of Northern Art in the sale are "Royal Albert Hall" by Brian ‘Braaq’ Shields, and “Gate Posts” by Manchester-born Geoffrey Key. The sale also offers two private collections; the first is a group of thirty paintings from the artist's estate by Wensleydale artist Piers Browne, who died in 2024, and the second is a small collection of works from the artist's family by Paul Maze, an Anglo-French painter often known as “The last of the Post Impressionists".
A good selection of prints in the sale include works by David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Elizabeth Blackadder,and Norman Ackroyd and amongst the Contemporary Art in the is “With All My Love” by Los Angeles-based street artist Mr Brainwash.
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Lot 519
Laurence Stephen Lowry RBA, RA (1887-1976)...
Sold for £25,000
Estimated at £25,000 - £35,000
Lot 520
Brian Shields 'Braaq' FBA (1951-1997) "Royal...
Sold for £15,000
Estimated at £8,000 - £12,000
Lot 523
George Galsworthy Palmer (1913-1972) "In the...
Sold for £3,800
Estimated at £1,500 - £2,000
Lot 534
Norman Ackroyd CBE, RA (1938-2024) "St Kilda...
Sold for £2,800
Estimated at £1,000 - £1,500
Lot 569
John Northcote Nash CBE, RA (1893-1977) "Hilly...
Sold for £8,000
Estimated at £1,500 - £2,500
Lot 586
Donald McIntyre RCA (1923-2009) "An Anglesey...
Sold for £2,200
Estimated at £1,000 - £1,500