Lot 50
50
Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A. (1887-1976)
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more THE IVES COLLECTION OF WORKS BY L.S. LOWRY, R.A. Lawrence and Daphne Ives moved to Mottram-in-Longdendale, where L.S. Lowry had lived at The Elms since 1948, in 1959. A chance meeting with a local resident alerted them to the presence of an artist in the village: 'There's a chap in the village who's a right take-on. This chap does a bit of drawing and painting but they're not up to much. He passes under the name of Lowry'. The art-loving couple were delighted by the unexpected news, and Lawrence Ives recalls: 'The sun shone, angels flew around the house, and joy reigned all around. That evening my wife set off to The Elms as the advance guard. She left around 8.30pm. and came back after midnight. 'Incredible, fascinating, a lovely man', Daphne said. 'It is your turn tonight'. So I went, and thus began a friendship that lasted until Lowry died'. Throughout the 1960s Ives and Lowry spent more than two hundred evenings together at The Elms or at the Ives's home. As child psychologists, the couple understood the artist's complex personality and Lawrence quickly realised that he should never ask to buy a painting or a drawing from Lowry. Lowry told him: 'They come to me with their tongues hanging out. They sit and admire; they want to go away with a little memento of Mr. Lowry. A little picture they will look at until they sell it in Bond Street'. Instead it was Lowry who began their collection by offering to sell them a painting (A Group of people, lot 52), but the price was a source of great amusement to the artist. As he usually charged £100, Lowry offered to cut this by two-thirds because a student grant of £500 was all the family had to live on. This discount continued for every purchase they made. The sources of the subjects in Lowry's work fascinated the couple, almost as much as the pictures themselves. A court, Manchester (lot 50) was painted for the couple in 1963. Lowry said 'I suppose you want an industrial?', but instead, they asked for a painting that showed the different stages of childhood. A year later Lowry telephoned from the phonebox at the end of the road: 'This is L.S. Lowry and I've got that picture for you'. Lawrence went to The Elms immediately to view the work. Lowry explained: 'It's a court off Deansgate. I have put lots of children in it for you', and Lawrence told him: 'I think that the man in the doorway represents you now - the watcher - and the boy staring out in the near foreground is you as a child alone'. Lowry was keen to know if the picture had received Lawrence's approval and he even repainted the fence post (see photograph opposite) before signing the painting. There is a story attached to every work in the collection and we have reproduced Lawrence's own words to describe the pictures and the unique circumstances in which they were acquired.
Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A. (1887-1976)

A court, Manchester

Details
Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A. (1887-1976)
A court, Manchester
signed and dated 'L.S. LOWRY 1964' (lower right)
oil on canvas
16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.5 cm.)
Provenance
Purchased direct from the artist by the present owner in August 1964.
Literature
M. Leber and J. Sandling (ed.s), L.S. Lowry, Oxford and Salford Art Gallery, 1987, p. 53 (illustrated).
Exhibited
Halifax, Arts Festival, Town Hall, L.S. Lowry, September-October 1968, no. 25.
Manchester, Didsbury College, Collectors Choice Exhibition, November 1970 (no catalogue produced).
Kirkcaldy, Art Gallery, Group of Eight Exhibition, October 1971, no. 3.
Nottingham, University Art Gallery, L.S. Lowry, R.A., May-June 1974, no. 15.
Manchester, Whitworth Univeristy Art Gallery, The Ives Collection of L.S. Lowry, February-March 1974, no. 8.
Mottram-in-Longdendale, The Old Courthouse, L.S. Lowry Mottram
Memorial Exhibition, June 1977, no. 3 (illustrated).
Stalybridge, Astley Cheetham Art Gallery, L.S. Lowry,
November-December 1983, no. 51 (illustrated).
Salford, Art Gallery, L.S. Lowry, The Centenary Exhibition, October-November 1987, no. 266.
Middlesborough, Arts Council, South Bank Board, Cleveland Art Gallery, The Art of L.S. Lowry, December 1987-January 1988, no. 60 (illustrated): this exhibition travelled to Coventry, Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, January-February 1988; Stoke-on-Trent, Art Gallery, March-April 1988; Exeter, Royal Albert Memorial Museum, April-May 1988; London, Barbican Art Gallery, August-October 1988.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.
Sale room notice
The copyright in the two photographs of L.S. Lowry painting A Court, Manchester is owned by Dr. Harold Riley.

Lot Essay

"Lowry suggested he should paint a picture for us towards the end of 1963 and said,
'I suppose you want an industrial.'
As we were both psychologists working as lecturers and clinicians in child development we asked for a painting showing the stages of childhood. In August 1964 we returned from a French camping holiday and had barely been in the house for five minutes when the phone rang.
'This is L.S. Lowry and I've got that picture for you.'
Lowry had rung from the phone box the crossroads side of The Elms - he did not have a house phone for some years. I went straight down in the still fully loaded holiday car.
'Is it up to standard? It is a Court (Courtyard) that used to be off Deansgate. I have put lots of children in it for you.'
'I think, Lowry, that the old man in the doorway represents you now, the watcher, and the boy staring out in the near foreground is you as a child alone. And there is the girl on the right with her back to us...' Lowry became excited,
'That's the one, Sir, that's the one... I had more trouble trouble with her than anyone else in the picture... but can I take it next door and sign it? Does it pass muster? Am I approved?'
'No problem... the tone on the leaning post in front of the fence looks a bit light.'
'Done, Sir, Done. Come next door.' (We went and Lowry mixed some paint and made a few dabs on the post) 'Now, is it ready to show your good lady?'
'Ten out of ten, Lowry.'
He signed the picture and I took it home."

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