4th Mar, 2023 9:30 GMT/BST
Modern & Contemporary Art
22
Laurence Stephen Lowry RBA, RA (1887-1976)
"The Sea"
Signed and dated 1965, pencil, 24.5cm by 34cm
Provenance: The Stone Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne
For a related preparatory pencil study (1965) see Sotheby's London, "Modern and Post War British Art", June 10 2015 lot 144
A highly comparable oil painting to the present work titled "The North Sea", was sold at Tennants Auctioneers, "Modern and Contemporary Art", 15 October 2022, lot 122, for £840,000 plus buyer’s premium (see image)
Lowry was fascinated by the sea. At once both beautiful and dangerously powerful, it was a constant source of inspiration to the solitary artist and he painted it throughout his life. Whilst the majority of his seaside pictures depict bustling seafronts and boats on the North West coast, from the early 1940s he began to depict pure seascapes. These rare, seemingly simple yet highly sophisticated works are far removed from the bustling industrial streets scenes for which he is better known.
After the death of his overbearing mother in 1939, Lowry frequently stayed for long periods of time at the Seaburn Hotel in Sunderland, to which he became deeply attached. Here he always stayed in the same room, which looked straight out at the empty expanse of the North Sea, sketching, and watching the water and sky melding at the horizon.
Sold for £25,000
Estimated at £12,000 - £18,000
The work is stuck down onto the back board of the mount. Some very light surface dirt. Slight shadow to the outer edges where the mount has been in position. Minor crease from left of top margin down the left edge into the sea (see image), another minor crease lower right corner and one upper right edge.
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Auction: Modern & Contemporary Art, 4th Mar, 2023
Two drawings by the masterful L.S. Lowry are on offer in our Spring Modern & Contemporary Art Sale, "The Stepped Street" and "The Sea", which span Lowry's artistic career and represent to of his overriding interests: the streets of Greater Manchester and the Sea. Also on offer is a fine work by Australian artist Arthur Boyd, a good selection of Northern Art by the likes of Braaq, Arthur Delaney and Stuart Walton, Canadian Art, sculpture by Sally Arnup, Lorenzo Quinn and David Wynn, and a good offering of prints by L.S. Lowry, Henry Moore, Edward Bawden, Bob Dylan and Billy Connolly.
Viewing
Thursday 2 March 10am-4pm, Friday 3 March 10am-5pm and morning of sale from 8am
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