1956 - Mill Scene

Mill Scene 1956

Pencil, Pastel, Crayon and Watercolour 

9½ x 13½ in. (24.2 x 34.3 cm.)

Sold [June 2007] for £54,000 (Christies, London, King Street)

Signed and Dated 'L S Lowry 1956' (lower right), Signed again, Inscribed and Dated again 'Mill Scene/L S Lowry 1956' (on the reverse)

Provenance

Given to the previous owner by the artist in February 1975. 

Literature

Exhibition catalogue, L.S. Lowry 1887-1976, London, Royal Academy, 1976, p. 82.

M. Levy, The Drawings of L.S. Lowry Public and Private, London, 1976, pl. IX, as 'Industrial Scene'. 

Exhibited

London, Royal Academy, L.S. Lowry 1887-1976, September - November 1976, no. 222. 

Mervyn Levy discusses this fluidly executed work, commenting on Lowry's representation of an ordinary street scene and its inhabitants, 'The mood is gently but pointedly satirical. The artist frequently concentrated his use of distortion upon the image of the dog. 'Man's best friend'? - these dogs are more like the hounds of hell. Invert the proposition and you have man in his true role. Lowry's symbolism was often complex and provocative' (M. Levy, loc. cit.).