Lslowry.com
Title
L.S. Lowry Prints
Description
Laurence Stephen Lowry is one of the most popular British artists of the twentieth century, best known for his atmospheric urban and industrial landscapes. Born in Stretford, Manchester, Lowry enjoyed drawing as a boy, but it was not until he started work as a clerk that he was able to afford drawing lessons. His early drawings from life reveal an accomplished and academic draughtsman..a far cry from the more stylized figures of his later years. Working as a rent collector, Lowry got to know the poorer districts of Manchester. The mill, the terraced streets and their inhabitants provide the subject matter of some of his most famous works. "I'll always be grateful to rent collection, I've put many of the tenants in my pictures". It was not until the 1930's that Lowry achieved any kind of commercial success. Lowry's father died in 1932. His mother, to whom he was extremely close, died in 1939. He later said "I have never felt much interest in life since then".
In 1948 Lowry moved to Mottram in Longdendale, a rural community bordering moorland. During his years at Mottram, Lowry spent much of his time in the North
East where he had easy access to the sea and the harbors. He pursued his vision of "putting the industrial scene on the artistic map" with an obsessive and dogged determination for over fifty years. An ordinary man, he acknowledged no influences nor did he seek to teach others. His success was, in many ways, extraordinary for he shunned the artistic establishment and protected the provincialism, which was at the very heart of his painting and his universal appeal. He was, a controversial character. His work has consistently confounded critics both by it's success and it's individualism. In a world, which apparently demands conformity, consistency and historical perspective, Lowry's paintings simply does not fit. Like several other remarkable English painters he was an almost eccentric outsider.
