What was lowry inspired by

At first he hated the atmosphere, but as seen in his pieces, he eventually became enamored with them. Most of his paintings are characterized by what Lowry himself calls the "Industrial Scene. As he traveled throughout the city on foot to collect rent he was able to see the entire industrial area as a whole.

Lowry's work is usually characterized by a white background and basic colors, though he did use numerous tools to make textures, such as nails or toothpicks.

He said of his creations, "I am a simple man, and I use simple materials: ivory, black, vermilion red , Prussian blue, yellow ochre, flake white and no medium e. That's all I've ever used in my paintings. I like oils I like a medium you can work into over a period of time. Throughout his lifetime, Lowry produced thousands of pencil drawings , these have become very collectable and the most detailed ones are very professionally drawn.

Lowry was not registered with any doctor; in he died at hospital from pneumonia. He had little time for the financial sharks that would 'hound' him on a daily basis, and the galleries hoping to inherit a number of works in Lowry's will, they kept in close contact with him throughout his old age, only to learn that Lowry had left all his paintings to a lady, with the same surname Carol Ann , who had written him a letter when she was a young girl, asking how she may learn to be an artist.

Manchester's newly built museum gallery, The Centre in Salford Quays, now holds a major collection of his work. There are relatively few signed prints now available. Many artists such as David Shepherd signed hundreds of titles, and each edition can sometimes be in excess of a thousand. But Lowry agreed to only fifty four signed prints , and each title ranged from 95 to in the edition.

Needless to say that after 50 or so years , from an edition of , there are a mere fraction of the edition that still exists in good condition. Many will have been lost damaged often by the glass breaking , being stored in damp conditions or the case of several titles, fading, due to the printers who have not used the lightfast inks and acid free paper.

Some interesting facts regarding L. Lowry's paintings; Paintings, drawings and signed prints by L S Lowry have become some of the most sought after art work in the country today.

Through the use of paint, canvas and pencil, this artist from the Manchester area in Lancashire , has managed to capture with remarkable accuracy and with direct, honest and a truthful vision, the spirit of a moment in time that has long since disapperared. Lowry shows the profound sadness and hardship endured by Lancashire's inhabitants on a daily basis, in a way that we can understand and have a greater insight to this strange and almost toturous way of life.

We can see from a few examples how the price of L. Lowry paintings and signed prints have dramatically increased over the years.

An increase of x Lowry For more than 40 years, Britain's most famous Modernist painter worked full-time as a rent collector. Lowry spent almost his entire working life as a rent collector Born in and raised in the leafy outskirts of Manchester, Laurence Stephen Lowry was an only child. His father was an estate agent and his mother was an aspiring pianist. Although the family was middle class, financial difficulties meant they had to move to the insalubrious industrial area of Pendlebury.

To help make ends meet, Lowry left school at 16 and clerked at an accountancy firm. Laurence Stephen Lowry, R. Oil on board. Offered in Modern British Art Evening Sale on 1 March at Christies in London Lowry was never a full-time artist: in his early twenties, he took a job as a rent collector, and this would be his primary trade for the next four decades.

But he painted most days after work, late into the night - and firmly rejected the label of 'Sunday painter', remarking, 'I'm a Sunday painter who paints every day of the week! Lowry trained under an Impressionist master Given his day job and the seemingly naive style of his paintings, it was long assumed that Lowry was self-taught.

This is far from true: he took evening classes in painting and drawing at the Salford School of Art and Municipal College of Art, where he studied under the French Impressionist Adolphe Valette. Oil on canvas. Lowry never adopted an Impressionist technique or colour range - he often claimed to use just five colours: vermilion, ivory black, Prussian blue, yellow ochre and flake white. What he did share with the Impressionists, however, was a fondness for capturing modern life in an urban landscape.

A missed train changed his career Today, Lowry is best remembered for his busy scenes of England's industrial north, complete with looming mills, imposing factories, smoking chimneys and massed ranks of workers. That would be the end of it all. Lowry painted a number of seascapes in the s, s and s. Free of human beings, they are testament to the immeasurable power and presence of nature.

Despite working full-time as a rent collector, Lowry enjoyed much recognition for his art in his lifetime. He had his first solo show in London in at the Lefevre Gallery in Mayfair; he was elected a Royal Academician in ; and he served as a visiting tutor at the prestigious Slade School of Fine Art. In , Lowry was even offered a knighthood, but he turned it down.

In , as he started to earn good money as a painter, Lowry moved to the affluent village of Mottram in Longdendale, near Manchester. He also began collecting work by artists he admired, particularly the Pre-Raphaelite Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Sign up today. Lowry died in , at the age of Unmarried and childless, he left behind a host of paintings and drawings by Rossetti. Lowry spent almost his entire working life as a rent collector Born in and raised in the leafy outskirts of Manchester, Laurence Stephen Lowry — was an only child.

He could easily be nicknamed "the Manchester Impressionist" or, at a squeeze, ''the Monet of Manchester" but the truth is that most people have not heard of him, let alone seen his striking landscapes of a grimly damp but dynamic and beautiful industrial city. The Lowry arts centre in Salford hopes to help change that by staging the most comprehensive overview of Adolphe Valette's work to date.

Quite why the Saint-Etienne born Frenchman ended up living in and painting early 20th century Manchester is something of a mystery.

But as a result, he not only produced truly fine work but helped invigorate and hone the skills of young artists, including LS Lowry. His presence was significant, said Lyon. One reason for his comparative obscurity is that he did not work in London or Paris.