Now I am not a great fan of Mr Lowry.
I listen to friends who tell me about his technical skill which I fully appreciate, and I also acknowledge the power of those matchstick figures which convey the bleakness of inner-city Salford and Manchester, but I remain unmoved.
It’s perhaps because I fell for the paintings so heavily when I was 16 and carried a torch for Mr Lowry for a full decade.
But that said, when family and friends come up from the south, the Lowry and in particular Mr Lowry’s paintings in the art gallery are a must.
And I have even been known to buy a postcard of his work to send to those even more unconvinced than me.
All of which makes me smile as I look at this self portrait of the man, sent to me by David Harrop who is an avid collector.
It is a photograph of the painting and comes from Entwhistle Thorpe & Co Ltd, of Tudor Industrial Estate, Dukinfield, Cheshire.
It was received by the Daily Telegraph in the November of 1966 and was used by its sister paper the Sunday Telegraph in September 1977.
The notes on the back announce that this is “Self Portrait 1925” of “L. S. Lowry” lent by City of Salford Museum and Art Gallery” and carried the instruction that the “Copyright reserved & This photograph may be reproduced only in connection with reviews of this exhibition” and the polite request “Please return to the Arts Council of Great Britain”.
And that set me off looking for the exhibition and given the first date was 1966, that was the starting point, and in October of that year the Manchester Guardian reported that “more than 14,000 people saw the retrospective exhibition an of paintings and drawings by L.S. Lowry which ended on Saturday after three weeks at the Whitworth Art Gallery”, concluding that despite the attendance being a record for such an event, only about 2,000 bought the 5 s catalogue.*
Leaving me to think the Telegraph carried the story in November or perhaps the following exhibition which was in Bristol.
As this was staged by the Arts Council, I think we have found our Lowry exhibition.
Leaving me only to observe that the Telegraph didn’t return the picture, and instead used it again in 1977, before parting with it, when after a period it fell to Mr Harrop.
Picture; photograph of a self-portrait, L S Lowry, 1966, from the collection of David Harrop
*Record 14,000 see exhibition of L. S. Lowry's work, Manchester Guardian, October 18, 1966
It’s perhaps because I fell for the paintings so heavily when I was 16 and carried a torch for Mr Lowry for a full decade.
But that said, when family and friends come up from the south, the Lowry and in particular Mr Lowry’s paintings in the art gallery are a must.
And I have even been known to buy a postcard of his work to send to those even more unconvinced than me.
All of which makes me smile as I look at this self portrait of the man, sent to me by David Harrop who is an avid collector.
It is a photograph of the painting and comes from Entwhistle Thorpe & Co Ltd, of Tudor Industrial Estate, Dukinfield, Cheshire.
It was received by the Daily Telegraph in the November of 1966 and was used by its sister paper the Sunday Telegraph in September 1977.
And that set me off looking for the exhibition and given the first date was 1966, that was the starting point, and in October of that year the Manchester Guardian reported that “more than 14,000 people saw the retrospective exhibition an of paintings and drawings by L.S. Lowry which ended on Saturday after three weeks at the Whitworth Art Gallery”, concluding that despite the attendance being a record for such an event, only about 2,000 bought the 5 s catalogue.*
Leaving me to think the Telegraph carried the story in November or perhaps the following exhibition which was in Bristol.
As this was staged by the Arts Council, I think we have found our Lowry exhibition.
Leaving me only to observe that the Telegraph didn’t return the picture, and instead used it again in 1977, before parting with it, when after a period it fell to Mr Harrop.
Picture; photograph of a self-portrait, L S Lowry, 1966, from the collection of David Harrop
*Record 14,000 see exhibition of L. S. Lowry's work, Manchester Guardian, October 18, 1966
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