Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Lot 31AR

Laurence Stephen Lowry R.A.
(British, 1887-1976)
Industrial scene with figures 15.2 x 11 cm. (6 x 4 3/8 in.)

20 November 2013, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £80,500 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Modern British & Irish Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

Laurence Stephen Lowry R.A. (British, 1887-1976)

Industrial scene with figures
signed and dated 'L.S.Lowry 1958' (lower left)
oil on panel
15.2 x 11 cm. (6 x 4 3/8 in.)

Footnotes

PROVENANCE:
Gifted by Laurence S. Lowry to the present owner in the 1960s

Painted on a very small scale, Industrial scene with figures (1958) illustrates that L.S. Lowry was just as accomplished working on diminutive pictures as he was on expansive canvases. Like A Mill Scene, Wigan executed in 1964 (see Bonhams sale 19 November 2008,
lot 61) and Mill Scene painted in 1972 and exhibited in Tate Britain's recent Lowry exhibition (see colour plate number 118 in the accompanying exhibition catalogue) the present lot, through the incorporation of figures travelling to their workplace, shows a thriving industrial environment within an unusually confined space. Despite being petite these oil sketches exude character; they take on a truly
impressionistic air and the influence of Lowry's teacher Adolphe Valette (1876-1942) at the Manchester Municipal School of Art during 1905-07 is perhaps most evident whilst looking at these bijou pictures. One only needs to compare Industrial scene with figures with Valette's equally small St. Peter's Square (reproduced in colour in Cécilia Lyon's 2006 monograph on Valette, pl.11) to understand just how influential this French born artist was in determining Lowry's future style of painting. Indeed, Lyon notes, 'Lowry did in fact express his gratitude for Valette's contribution. “I cannot over-estimate the effect on me at that time of the coming into this drab city of Adolphe Valette, full of the French Impressionists, aware of everything that was going on in Paris. He had freshness and a breadth of experience that was a very wonderful thing, as I saw it done by himself and his friends.”' (Cécilia Lyon, Adolphe Valette, Phillimore & Co., Chichester, 2006, p.116).

Additional information

Bid now on these items

Laurence Stephen Lowry R.A.(British, 1887-1976)Five Figures 26.5 x 18.2 cm. (10 3/8 x 7 1/4 in.)

Laurence Stephen Lowry R.A.(British, 1887-1976)People at the Beach 31.3 x 40.4 cm. (12 3/8 x 16 1/8 in.)

Fred Yates(British, 1922-2008)Still Life with Flowers

Fred Yates(British, 1922-2008)Vase of Flowers

John Bellany C.B.E., R.A., H.R.S.A., L.L.D.(Lon)(British, 1942-2013)Bouquet in a Floral Jug (unframed)

John Bratby R.A.(British, 1928-1992)Two Sunflowers

Philip Sutton R.A.(British, born 1928)Still Life

Anne Estelle Rice(American/British, 1887-1959)White Cyclamen

Joan Gillchrest(British, 1918-2008)Hyacinths Towards Zennor

Mary Fedden R.A.(British, 1915-2012)Still Life with Eggcup

Mary Fedden R.A.(British, 1915-2012)Still Life with Drawers

Bryan Pearce(British, 1929-2007)Fruit Bowl

Peter Collis R.H.A.(Irish, 1929-2012)Still Life with Blue Jug

Geoffrey Key(British, born 1941)Chinese Vases II

Tessa Newcomb(British, born 1955)The Evening after the Visit

Mary Newcomb(British, 1922-2008)Orange Winged Butterfly

Mary Newcomb(British, 1922-2008)Butterfly

Mary Newcomb(British, 1922-2008)Yellow Butterfly

Tessa Newcomb(British, born 1955)Our Field

Mary Newcomb(British, 1922-2008)Fishing Boat

Alan Lowndes(British, 1921-1978)Cap d'Antibes

Mary Fedden R.A.(British, 1915-2012)Oasis Pella, Jordan

Mary Fedden R.A.(British, 1915-2012)Gone Fishing

Alan Furneaux(British, born 1953)The Bay of St Michael's Mount