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Lot Essay
Painted in 1947, A River Bank is a large scale industrial landscape in which Lowry has combined elements to create the composition. It is based on the River Irwell, which flows close to the Salford School of Art and the Salford Art Gallery. Lowry made a number of topographical drawings from both sides of the river and it became an important subject for him. In this painting Lowry has included the distinctive topographical feature of the windmill, built between 1831 and 1848, which pumped polluted water out of the river into reservoirs in which the sediment could settle and the clean water was then used in the nearby dye works. The windmill was, however, demolished between 1949 and 1955, soon after Lowry painted this picture.
Judith Sandling writes, 'Not content with a realistic rendition of this site, Lowry painted a topographical/composite version [the present work]. The east side of the river is accurately rendered, but the river itself has undergone a transformation. It is no longer a narrow stretch of water navigable only by small boats, but a large body capable of accomodating the large ships that can be seen floating in it. The park, on the other side of the river, has also been changed from a rural setting to an industrialised site' (see J. Sandling and M. Leber, Lowry's City: A Painter and his Locale, Salford, 2000, p. 39).
The figures that Lowry has included in A River Bank seem dwarfed by the industrial lanscape that surrounds them. Writing about Lowry's earlier painting The Lake, 1937 (The Lowry, Salford) Michael Howard comments, 'What is the value, Lowry seems to be saying, of all this industrial frenzy in the face of our major spiritual concerns, our metaphysical loneliness and our disregard for our fellow man and the environment in which we live? Lowry's art, although informed by literature, theatre, film and art, is essentially a response to his private experience and he remains, like Blake, profoundly personal and inimitable. He shares with many the acceptance of 'nothingness' as the source of true reality' (see Lowry: A Visionary Artist, Salford, 2000, p. 157).
L.S. Lowry had been a president of Bury Art Society and a regular visitor to the Art Gallery, and in recognition of this, he arranged with his dealer, Lefevre, to offer The County Borough of Bury their pick of three paintings. They chose the present work and their selection and the sum paid of £175 is recorded in the minutes of the Borough Council.
Nocturnal Girl by local artist David Horan was donated to Bury Art Gallery by L.S. Lowry in 1964.
Judith Sandling writes, 'Not content with a realistic rendition of this site, Lowry painted a topographical/composite version [the present work]. The east side of the river is accurately rendered, but the river itself has undergone a transformation. It is no longer a narrow stretch of water navigable only by small boats, but a large body capable of accomodating the large ships that can be seen floating in it. The park, on the other side of the river, has also been changed from a rural setting to an industrialised site' (see J. Sandling and M. Leber, Lowry's City: A Painter and his Locale, Salford, 2000, p. 39).
The figures that Lowry has included in A River Bank seem dwarfed by the industrial lanscape that surrounds them. Writing about Lowry's earlier painting The Lake, 1937 (The Lowry, Salford) Michael Howard comments, 'What is the value, Lowry seems to be saying, of all this industrial frenzy in the face of our major spiritual concerns, our metaphysical loneliness and our disregard for our fellow man and the environment in which we live? Lowry's art, although informed by literature, theatre, film and art, is essentially a response to his private experience and he remains, like Blake, profoundly personal and inimitable. He shares with many the acceptance of 'nothingness' as the source of true reality' (see Lowry: A Visionary Artist, Salford, 2000, p. 157).
L.S. Lowry had been a president of Bury Art Society and a regular visitor to the Art Gallery, and in recognition of this, he arranged with his dealer, Lefevre, to offer The County Borough of Bury their pick of three paintings. They chose the present work and their selection and the sum paid of £175 is recorded in the minutes of the Borough Council.
Nocturnal Girl by local artist David Horan was donated to Bury Art Gallery by L.S. Lowry in 1964.