Research Point: Different Artists' Depiction of Landscape (Part 3) L.S. Lowry

I was asked to look at the work of Lowry for this section of the course. I must admit, that I've never been much of a fan of his work. Maybe he has suffered from the "match stalk men and match stalk cats and dogs" image from popular culture.  I thought perhaps my lack of admiration might be because I had seen very little of his work 'in the flesh' and it might be the quality and scale of the reproductions that was letting it down so I decided to try and suspend  judgement and go along to 'Lowry and the Painting of Modern Life' at Tate Britain.

This exhibition was extremely popular. It was quite crowded in the gallery which meant it was difficult to view paintings from a distance because of bunches of people in front of them. This didn't help the experience (I really don't like crowds). 

Walking into a room of Lowry's paintings the over-riding impression is one of 'sameness' and grimness and drabness. His colour palettes are very similar and his compositions are often quite horizontal and static. They do not excite admiration of their dynamism or glowing colours - but then I suppose that is the point. In the exhibition catalogue Anne M Wagner says " His repetitions were part of his project, which is to say that they were a way of matching his pictures' rhythm to the life of the street" . His work is cohesive and he apparently uses repetition as a conceptual tool according to Wagner.(1)

Click on the links to see People bent over scurrying to and from work at the mill here, and again here, and again! here

In part 2 of this research point I touched on the fact that the impressionists and post impressionists  were concerned with painting scenes from modern life and Lowry was influenced by this. He was taught at Manchester School of art by Adolphe Valette who was a French Late impressionist (1). 

Valette: Albert Square, Manchester

Valette: Rooftops, Manchester

I am sorry to say that I prefer Valette's work to that of Lowry. Perhaps it is a little over romanticised in its view of the grim northern town but is seems to find the inherent beauty in the reflections on rainy streets - something I don't find in Lowry's work. However, Valette was a great influence on Lowry and in fact Lowry exhibited and was recognised as an important artist in Paris long before he exhibited in London or Manchester. (1)

I can understand the importance of Lowry in his documentation of the industrial world around him. He was in a unique position as an artist. He was not an upper class person coming in as an outsider to portray the working classes in a patronising way. He was part of the everyday life of the places he represented in his role as a rent collector. He wasn't a member of the working classes he represented, however - his job would have put him above the class divide as a lower middle class man. It is tempting to think of him as some kind of working class hero or activist for workers' rights but this was not the case - he was a lifelong Tory.  He documented what he saw around him in an undramatic way because that is how he saw the events around him.  For example an eviction is not viewed with pathos despite how distressing it would have been for the family involved. It was quite a regular/everyday occurrence on these streets where a hand to mouth existence was the norm. In Lowry's painting the family's belongings are on the street and people stand around looking static - not doing very much. There is no wailing or gnashing of teeth apparent.

There are a few works which did grab my attention in the exhibition for various reasons. The first was Saint Augustine's Church Pendlebury link to image here on the Tate website. I think it is the bold composition of this which is so arresting. The bold dark shape of the church rising up in the centre of the page. The low viewpoint and large expanse of grey sky make the viewer feel small and insignificant. In this respect it reminds me of 'The Monk by the Sea' by Caspar David Friedrich which I mentioned in my previous post (part 2 of this research point). which takes me back to elements of the sublime - which i don't really see in many of Lowry's other works.

Next there were some of Lowry's drawings which I liked. Especially this drawing of a street in ancoats. Although it is somewhat featureless, there is a sense of mystery about it - where does that street go to? What is over the brow of that hill?

Another painting which grabbed my attention was The Cripples which Lowry painted in 1949. The figures on the painting are cartoonish and look almost comical. I stood in front of this painting not quite knowing how to feel about it. Twenty first century political correctness suggested that I should automatically feel righteous indignation on behalf of the groups represented here - in particular at their description as 'cripples'.  I didn't like the painting but I also struggled to work out what Lowry was trying to achieve. Was he simply documenting without sentiment the presence of numerous war wounded on the streets of Manchester? Was he making a comment about isolation by putting these people outside a fence? He is quoted as saying that he felt for these people and felt like them and some of the people painted here were apparently well known characters in his area. Was he aiming to comment on the tragedy of so many afflicted people? If so it doesn't really come off because of his handling of the depiction of the figures themselves. It looks a bit patronising. No, even after thinking about this painting for a while I still don't like it. It makes me uneasy - but maybe that is better than some of the other works which just leave me completely cold?

In the final room of the exhibition were Lowry's monumental industrial landscapes of the 1950s for example industrial landscape 1955. These are imaginary landscapes although some details are recognisable as representing real places. They are impressive in the size and scale . another example is Ebbw Vale. Both of these employ a street with people in the foreground to draw the viewer's eye up the centre of the composition into the rest of the scene. An unusual compositional device with its central placement. I do prefer these paintings to some of the earlier paintings but they still don't move me particularly. 

I have come away from the exhibition with a clearer understanding of the positioning of Lowry relative to the impressionists and of Lowry's importance in the documentation of the urban scene at the time he was living and painting there. However I was not converted into a 'Lowry Lover' by my trip. He isn't numbered amongst my favourite artists. I wonder if that is partly because I was brought up in the Industrial North East of England during a recession and wanted to get away from there as soon as possible when I left school? Lowry's paintings don't fill me with nostalgia they just make me shrug my shoulders and walk away.

Reference Material:

Lowry and the painting of Modern Life. T. J. Clark and Anne M. Wagner. Tate Publishing 2013