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拍品專文
“If it were not for loneliness none of my works would have happened”
(L.S. Lowry)
Lytham, situated on the Fylde coast just south of Blackpool, was where Lowry spent most of his Easter holidays as a child. In fact the only painting that Elizabeth Lowry, the artist’s mother, ever gave the slightest recognition to was one of his paintings of yachts at Lytham St Annes. Even such scant praise from such a dominant figure in his life was seized upon and the yachting painting remained hanging in Lowry’s bedroom until he died.
Lowry painted many works of Lytham throughout his lifetime. The majority of these show the yachts moored along the coast. By contrast the present work, dating from 1946, depicts a quiet country road in Lytham. A similar painting that belonged to Lord Forte, Country Road, near Lytham (sold Christie’s, London, 16 November 2011, lot 13, £301,250) portrays a very comparable view, with the Lytham lighthouse discernable on the skyline to the right and a small group of children with a dog playing on the road. In the present work Lowry has emptied the landscape of any obvious figures. The carefully constructed scene with the central road and telegraph poles disappearing into the distance, punctuated by the farm buildings and red fence posts signify a human presence, not unlike a stage set. However, rather than the feeling of excited anticipation, waiting for the actors to enter and the play to begin, Lytham exudes a stark emptiness. The play has ended, the actors and audience have left and we are very much alone. Along with Lowry’s void, semi-abstracted seascapes these barren landscapes are maybe not the artist’s most typical works, however, are certainly some of his most powerful and ironically most introspective depictions.
(L.S. Lowry)
Lytham, situated on the Fylde coast just south of Blackpool, was where Lowry spent most of his Easter holidays as a child. In fact the only painting that Elizabeth Lowry, the artist’s mother, ever gave the slightest recognition to was one of his paintings of yachts at Lytham St Annes. Even such scant praise from such a dominant figure in his life was seized upon and the yachting painting remained hanging in Lowry’s bedroom until he died.
Lowry painted many works of Lytham throughout his lifetime. The majority of these show the yachts moored along the coast. By contrast the present work, dating from 1946, depicts a quiet country road in Lytham. A similar painting that belonged to Lord Forte, Country Road, near Lytham (sold Christie’s, London, 16 November 2011, lot 13, £301,250) portrays a very comparable view, with the Lytham lighthouse discernable on the skyline to the right and a small group of children with a dog playing on the road. In the present work Lowry has emptied the landscape of any obvious figures. The carefully constructed scene with the central road and telegraph poles disappearing into the distance, punctuated by the farm buildings and red fence posts signify a human presence, not unlike a stage set. However, rather than the feeling of excited anticipation, waiting for the actors to enter and the play to begin, Lytham exudes a stark emptiness. The play has ended, the actors and audience have left and we are very much alone. Along with Lowry’s void, semi-abstracted seascapes these barren landscapes are maybe not the artist’s most typical works, however, are certainly some of his most powerful and ironically most introspective depictions.