Laurence Stephen Lowry RA (1887-1976)
"The End House",
Signed and dated 1966, inscribed on an exhibition label verso, oil on board, 34.5cm by 22.5cm

Provenance: The Stone Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and St James's, London

Purchased from the Stone Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the 1970's, "The End House" has remained in a private collection until it was exhibited in 2017 in Tennants "350 Years of British Art" Exhibition.

Here we can readily see Lowry's use of a white background and eradication of shadows from the composition which gives his pictures their signature naïve and dreamlike quality. Lowry used flake white as the ground for his compositions after an argument with his teacher Bernard D Taylor who made Lowry put his earlier, darker Victorian influenced industrial scenes up against a wall only to find they all looked too black. It was at this point Lowry became increasingly fond of whites.

In an account from 1924 he explains how he covered a board with 6 coats of his highly characteristic flake white (much in evidence in the present work to accentuate the stark contrast between the singular building and background) allowed it to dry and then stored it away for 6 or 7 years, only then did the artist deem it be just the right shade as to evoke the required tone.

Lowry loved the industrial landscape and was often drawn to lonely and interesting buildings giving his works their unique quirky quality that we have come to know and love. Before he became the household name he is today the art dealer and great supporter of Lowry Andras Kalman recalled that he was the laughing stock of Manchester "They said he couldn't draw, his people were dirty, and that he painted scenery people would drive six miles out of their way to avoid". The striking composition of "The End House" clearly resonates Lowry's fascination with the world around him creating interest and intrigue.


See illustration

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