Critical Review
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.
