Thank you for your report!
We have received your report and it is currently under investigation by a forum moderator.
L. S. Lowry The Unheard Tapes
Welcome to the forum.
Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.
Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.
Hang on Studio Wall
This is a Studio member-only feature!
Join our Studio membership and save your favourite Painters Online content, from gallery artwork to step-by-step guides, to your own online mood boards. Create your go-to place for inspiration and learning. Plus, members can also enjoy a range of exciting features including monthly art videos and a digital magazine library.
If you are already a Studio member, simply login to your account.
Not a Studio member? Why not try our free 30-day trial - no commitment, no credit card required
Message
Posted
The Lowry Tapes.
After watching the L. S. Lowry The Unheard Tapes it reminded me of an incidence in Manchester. At one time I was regularly in and out of the city.
Driving along I noticed a hand pulled cart coming into view, which was black as black could be. As I came past the man pulling the hand cart was also as black as black could be. The man and the cart seemed ghostly like but sure enough he was fixed on pulling that cart along. Immediately I thought of Lowry and his paintings which brought home to me the people he painted really did exist.
I have visited many exhibitions over the years and I am always left with an impression as well are of visits. Some I left with a sense of wonder, joy, new awareness, discuss, or delight. Visiting the Lowry permanent exhibition in Salford Manchester was a strange experience. I can appreciate each Lowry painting and understand its context. However seeing this whole collection of paintings which I went round I think three times. what came through to me of the whole collection was a sense of depression, or a kind of sympathy or sorrow for the characters involved in the paintings. But the over all sense was a depressive sense, I could see no joy in the subject matter. This is not to critics Lowry’s paintings, his object was to record what he observed. But it all left me with a strange feeling about the whole view of his paintings, it did seemed depressive when I viewed the whole of his work together.
After seeing the program it come through a bit. He said “life isn’t very important is it?” “We come and we go why the fuss and the flurry.” Also “I’ve been tired for 60 years.” Well thats almost a life time is it not. It seems to me that the thing he lived for was the painted recording of his observations. His comment on his work or painting was “it’s like a disease that gets hold of you.” What I have written is my experience of Lowry’s paintings and not ment to be a criticism or down play of his fine contribution to art. But I do say this art has given me a sense of the joy of life and helped lift me out of the difficulties we all experience from time to time. Thank you for reading this story.
Posted
Unlike the Victorian artist he painted this as he observed, dirt, grim and all the scars of the industrial city around him .
Look at the false images of the Victorian artist who has smiling children with rose red cheeks , mothers that were dressed well not worn down by the struggles they endured. Yes his work isn’t bright cheerful and making his era look like a film set iIts that what comes through in his work, those of us who lived in the fifties and sixties industrial cities can relate to his work. I suppose it bring up the fact that to some degree despite looking back on the time as being great we did all have some depression around us at the time , given that money was often short , and the knock on effect it had on daily life.
Let me say I certainly would not want to have missed the opportunity to live through then day . I will stop before I get more nostalgic and rabbit on about life back then , miss it yes I do but I appreciate what I have now . Long winded answer but I can see where you are coming from and also under how it’s made you feel .
Posted
Can I correct that Paul it is not how Lowry’s work makes ME FEEL. That was my objective obviation of the work on display. It is true what you say about smiling images of children i do agree whole heartedly with that. Life is what we make of it and the hard times I am sure you will agree although uncomfortable can make us much better humans. Thank you for your reply.
Posted
It was a very interesting program. He came across as a depressive character (his recorded words were spoken by an actor, if you didn’t watch the program). Recently I also watched a movie called Mrs Lowry and son, Lowry played by Timothy Spall and his mother by Vanessa Redgrave. A drama of course, but presumably based on those facts known about them. Again…a depressive experience. Clearly he had a difficult life: his art was important to him. There have been many opinions raised about his mental health…his fame brought such attention.
I admire his work, much of it seems joyful to me, and it’s very much of his time. The 30’s through to the 50’s were bleak times, the country was bankrupt for most of it.
From my viewpoint, his art shows very little of his difficult life.
Posted
My husband and I went to an LSLowry exhibition in Berwick ( Northumberland, there is a Lowry “ trail” there ). I was fascinated by his seascapes. They captured an atmosphere….we sat and looked at them…quite different from his Salford paintings ( and my husband was brought up in Salford). “ Matchstick men” is not the only thing about Lowry. I remember Fiona displaying a painting of Berwick which she did ( I think) for her sister’s birthday.
Posted
I thought the recent documentary/dramatisation was excellent and Sir Ian McKellen and the young girl who played his interviewer' was first class too. An all round superb programme, would urge all to watch it. For me, Lowry's paintings are supremely evocative but his self portrait knocked me for six (and still does) in the National Portrait Gallery.
Edited
by Heather Love
Posted
In an edition of Fake or Fortune (as I remember the programme's title) an attribution was sought for a Lowrey painting that was disputed by the authorities - such as they were and are - because on analysis it was found to contain Zinc White; whereas Lowrey claimed to have used only Flake White. Happily, a photograph emerged in which Lowrey was surrounded by boxes of .... ta da..... Zinc White. I suspect he mixed it with the Flake to make the Flake more workable, or to increase its transparency; or both.
In the end, the painting was added to the canon - a lesson to be learned there: don't always listen to the "experts" - or the artist. I don't suppose Lowrey was intending to deceive - after all, why would he? - but conveying information with the barest minimum of words; which he was inclined to do, in the rather few interviews with him I've seen. A very private man, and a life lived in distinct compartments - which in itself must have contributed to his probably unique mental state.
I haven't watched the C4 programme yet, and must, before they take it off. I wonder why I haven't so far - not happy with an actor, even a great one, lip- synching to his words? Or maybe feeling a bit intrusive - I have the impression of Lowrey that he'd let you into his life just so far, and then the drawbridge would go up - he believed his work mattered, not L S Lowrey; he carried on doing it in the face of indifference and even ridicule, and without that self-belief would probably have turned even more into the lonely loner he seems to have been. I did watch a rather good documentary on YouTube, though, featuring filmed interviews with him in old age. Well worth looking for, for those interested; it's not hard to find. One puzzle remains - why didn't he invest in a smock or coverall, rather than wear a three-piece suit, complete with pocket-square and collar and tie, covered with paint? If I'd been around at the time, I'd have bought him an apron, at least...