Critical Review
Rendered in black ink against white paper, Great Ancoats Street is a screen print from 1930 by L. S. Lowry that shows a street corner from a slightly elevated view. Making this print distinctly Lowry, is the inclusion of his ‘matchstick-figures’ wandering throughout the scene, young and old, to emphasise the human presence in this otherwise topographical depiction of the street.
Great Ancoats Street shows the worn-out working class Manchester area of Ancoats, a place that was characterised from the 1980s as a notorious slum. Lowry worked as a rent collector for the Pall Mall Property Company and this led to him walking everywhere in the city, taking in many sights and experiences. He would come into contact with those who lived in areas like Ancoats who could not afford to pay their rent and evidently Lowry was compelled to capture their lives through his art.
Lowry wonderfully captures this gloomy scene of industrial life in Britain through the sketchy quality of the print. The smoke that comes from the chimneys seems to merge and seep into the scene as a whole, giving the street a dirty and run-down atmosphere. His figures in the foreground also appear isolated and are depicted as products of their poor environment.
