6th Mar, 2021 11:00 GMT/BST

Modern & Contemporary Art

 
  Lot 1070
 

1070

Laurence Stephen Lowry RBA, RA (1887-1976) ''People in a Park'' Signed and dated 1971,...

Laurence Stephen Lowry RBA, RA (1887-1976)
"People in a Park"
Signed and dated 1971, extensively inscribed to labels verso, oil on board, 14.5cm by 35cm
 
Provenance: John Fletcher of Oldham
Gifted to his housekeeper
 
People in a Park, is a typical example of the figure pictures Lowry painted during the latter part of his career. In this delightfully complex composition we see him not only using his full range of five colours - ivory black, vermillion, prussian blue, yellow ochre and flake white, but also in the distance we can make out almost all of his trademark 'industrial ' landscape elements. Dominant in the centre is a domed industrial mill building, which is flanked by two pairs of church spires either side, which themselves are flanked by five, very tall, pencil thin industrial chimneys. In front of these is a typical row of blue green hills that rise and fall fully across the entire composition.   A vast stretch of white dotted with solitary figures and a single dog fills the space between these hills and the vibrant and dynamic group of figures that take up the foreground of the composition.  Here, once again we see almost all of Lowrys 'signature' figures.  Saturday was the main day for visiting the local parks and here we see men and women, teens, boys and girls, and two dogs all enjoying the park. Lowry's gift of adding movement to his figure groups is very much in evidence, giving us a truly vibrant composition with a strong sense of fun and activity. 
 
The work is signed and dated 1971, and helpfully, the old  labels from an earlier framing have been carefully preserved and re-attached to the reverse . Here we see Lowry using one of his trademark black 'biros' to further sign and date the work and to inscribe its full title. Also  preserved are his instructions to presumably his regular framer asking to have the 'pins' replaced in the same position. This refers to panel pins, small nails that were used at the time to secure pictures in the frame. 
 
We are grateful to Jonathan Horwich for his assistance with compiling this catalogue entry.  
 
Artist's Resale Rights/Droit de Suite may apply to this lot, please refer to our Terms of Business

Sold for £165,000
Estimated at £60,000 - £90,000


 

Covered in a thin layer of surface dirt and discoloured varnish. Small area of paint loss lower left corner and a tiny loss lower right corner. Minor rubbing to all edges when viewed out of frame. There are two layers of board adhered with glue, some type of black fabric within the two layers, the second board appears to have been flipped at some point with old traces of glue and black felt? attached to the reverse, please see additional images. Please contact the department for further information.

 


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Auction: Modern & Contemporary Art, 6th Mar, 2021

Modern & Contemporary Art

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