Laurence Stephen Lowry R.A.

(British, 1887-1976)

The Spectators 24.2 x 34.4 cm. (9 1/2 x 13 1/2 in.)

Footnotes

Provenance
The Artist
Monty Bloom Esq., from whom acquired by
Barry Owen O.B.E.
With Rowles Fine Art, Ludlow
With Neptune Fine Art, Derbyshire, where purchased by the present owner
Private Collection U.K.

Lowry was passionate about watching people; he was an astute observer of their daily activities. Occasionally he would present them full length in a frieze-like format, as in The Spectators, where their individual characters and expressions were carefully recorded. Whilst there is no obvious clue as to where these 'spectators' have been, or, are heading to, their jovial faces and dress might indicate a local football match is involved. Another work titled The Spectators, his 1923 oil painting on panel (formerly in Monty Bloom's collection of Lowrys) show figures on their way to see Bolton Wanderers play. All context has been removed from the present drawing so that the sole focus is placed on the men, some viewed head on, the others in profile. Although the drawing is not clearly dated, the style and technique would suggest a relatively early date of the 1930s or 40s. Men attending football matches in those days dressed very differently for game day compared to nowadays. Bowler hats, flat caps and a jacket were the norm, like those depicted in his drawing Coming from the Football Match of 1929 (illustrated in Mervyn Levy's Drawings of L.S. Lowry, Jupiter Books, London, 1973, pl.36)

The original owner of The Spectators, Monty Bloom, was a Manchester businessman who became one of Lowry's most significant patrons of the artist's later career after seeing the B.B.C.'s film on the artist which had been made by John Read. 'It was so accidental. I got the last ten minutes of that film. For some reason or other, these were the first paintings that had ever moved me. I was born in an industrial area [the Welsh valleys], which probably had something to do with it. I wanted one. I thought, "We've never had a painting on the wall, we must get one of these"'. (Monty Bloom quoted in Allen Andrews, The Life of L.S Lowry, 1887-1976, Jupiter Books, London, 1977, p.103)