Crowded Beach, Sandsend

The present drawing relates to a group of works depicting the seaside that Lowry returned to throughout his life. Michael Howard (Lowry A Visionary Artist, Salford, 2000, p. 230) writes that an earlier 1921 drawing, On the Sands, 'is reminiscent of Seurat's frieze-like compositions of modern life. Despite the harmonious atmosphere of the whole composition, the individual figures retain an unsettling sense of self-containment, even of isolation ... Nothing is included that might suggest the laissez-faire aspect of seaside activities: swimsuits and disported bodies are conspicuous by their absence. These holidaymakers, unlike their counterparts on the seaside posters, remain as they do in the photographs of the period, resolutely fully clothed, dignified, proper and restrained'.

Beach Scene, Lancashire, an oil painting from 1945 of the same subject, will be offered in the sale of 20th Century British Art at Christie's, London, on 22 November 2002, lot 55.