Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A. (1887-1976)
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Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A. (1887-1976)

Breakdown under the Bridge

Details
Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A. (1887-1976)
Breakdown under the Bridge
signed and dated 'L.S. LOWRY 1960' (lower right)
oil on canvas
10 x 12 1/8 in. (25.4 x 30.8 cm.)
Provenance
with Crane Kalman, London, where purchased by the present owner at the 1966 exhibition.
Exhibited
London, Crane Kalman, A Tribute to L.S. Lowry, November 1966 - January 1967, no. 29, as 'Breakdown under a Railway Bridge'.
probably, London, Royal Academy, L.S. Lowry 1887-1976, September - November 1976, no. 254, as 'Accident on the Bridge'.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

In the late 1950s, Lowry introduced the image of the cab into his work. Levy comments, 'It was, he said, originally inspired by a curious contraption he saw trundling the streets of Manchester, a man perched at the front and driving the vehicle by a kind of handle. It was black and narrow, with small windows at each side and at the back ... But its fortutitous appearance was important since it provided the artist with a new and impersonal image that could symbolize the passage of human life through the unending flow and mystery of existence ... There is strength and mystery, and sadness too, in this drawing of the cab moving slowly away from us into the gloom of the unknown. It is carrying the artist ...' (M. Levy, Drawings of L.S. Lowry, London, 1963, p. 22).

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