Laurence Stephen Lowry R.A.

(British, 1887-1976)

Suburban Figures 27 x 22.6 cm. (10 5/8 x 8 7/8 in.)

Footnotes

Provenance
The Artist, by whom gifted to the previous owner
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.

People, their characters, habits, oddities and eccentricities lie at the heart of Lowry's work from his formative to his final years. This aspect of Lowry's output is perhaps at its sharpest in the stand-alone figures that emerge in the late 1950s and subsequently become one of his dominant elements. Through deft yet rich brushwork Lowry masterfully captures individual gesture and, by way of his characteristic melancholic wit, recalls witnessed moments of amusement. In these usually small-scale works, people, either single or grouped, are presented with the scantest suggestions of environment. This deep focus, which creates a psychological angle, was particularly appealing to Lowry who commented "I think this is my best period... I think I am saying more, going deeper into life than I did" (L. S. Lowry quoted in Michael Howard, Lowry: A Visionary Artist, Lowry Press, Salford, 2000, p.201).

The first owner of Suburban Figures was a friend of Lowry's. The painting began in 1957 as a lesson, with Lowry preparing the board in his usual fashion with a priming of flake white. Working 'wet in wet', vermillion and yellow ochre were introduced, forming the shawl of the woman at the centre of the composition. Having no image in his mind, he allowed the picture to develop itself. More people were added, including two half-figures towards the lower right-hand corner, and dogs, of course. When he could take it no further, and being very particular about the lengthy drying times required for his thickly applied impasto technique, he took it back to his Mottram studio to finish.

After Suburban Figures left his studio, Lowry would regularly see the work hanging in his friend's home. He was mindful that the fresh brash nature of the flake white ground ought to soften with age (a natural process he referred to as 'dropping') and was pleased with how the work was settling. Indeed, around this time, the two of them were together viewing a recently restored El Greco painting, in London, their whites newly gleaming, and it is recalled that he stated "If I paint, knowing flake white will drop, surely a great master like him will have known".

In 1960, Lowry again viewed Suburban Figures and felt compelled to make an adjustment. Most apologetically, he asked if he could take the picture back to correct it, muttering that he did not know how he had allowed such an error. He once said that the removal of one figure in any of his paintings would disrupt the composition. He was not only a master of tonal values but also of design. He returned the picture with one of the half-figures now painted out. This was to allow the eye to more freely enter the composition, a device enhanced by the inclusion of the diagonal pavement directing the viewer towards the centre point. Now complete, the work was re-dated by Lowry to 1961.