Name: Reference Library
Brand: L S Lowry
Rating: 5 (236 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of L S Lowry's Reference Library (signed) is estimated to be worth between £1,350 and £2,000. This lithograph print, created in 1972, has shown consistent value growth since its first sale in September 2005. Over the past 12 months, the average selling price was £1,233, across a total of 3 sales. In the last five years, the hammer price has ranged from £1,000 in June 2024 to £1,915 in August 2022. The artwork has an auction history of 23 total sales and an average annual growth rate of -9%. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 850.

Meaning & Analysis

Reference Library is a sketch by L. S. Lowry, which has been produced as a lithograph in an edition of 850 and shows an image of the public library in central Manchester. The central focus of the composition is the rotunda building, with crowds of people that wander the streets going about their daily business, filling the foreground of the image.

Like many of Lowry’s sketches, this scene is depicted in a highly realistic style, retaining the most important details of the architecture and keeping the buildings and people to the correct scale. Lowry’s prints like these incorporate much closer detail and elements like shadow on the buildings due to the fact that the medium is limited to a monochrome palette.Initially trained under the Impressionist master, Adolphe Valette, Lowry was interested in recording the nuances of everyday life and would sketch during the day to record his observations of the world around him. During his prolific career, the artist produced over 8,000 drawings.

Lowry’s lithographs like Reference Library are produced by hand whereby a plate is etched and inked, and the paper is then pressed onto the plate to produce an original. Due to this printing process, no two prints are exactly the same and are therefore highly sought after objects.