L. S. LOWRY, BERWICK UPON TWEED, SIGNED LITHOGRAPH, EDITION OF 650, 1973
Showing a portrait composition of a street scene, Berwick Upon Tweed is a print from 1973 by L. S. Lowry. The scene is viewed from a high point, possibly from a set of stairs implied by the brick wall in the bottom left corner of the print, and the print is compacted with town buildings that follow the street up to a vanishing point.
Lowry was a regular visitor to Berwick-upon-Tweed, a town in Northumberland, producing more than 30 paintings and drawings of the town. This depiction of the town is typical of Lowry’s stylised realism, with a cluster of his ‘matchstick-men’ populating the foreground of the print. Berwick Upon Tweed is a casual scene, showing the figures going about their daily business; chatting in groups, walking their dogs, and taking a trip to the shops.
Much like many of Lowry’s town scenes, this print is depicted in a limited palette of muted colours. Elements of humour and caricature can be seen in the print, but Berwick Upon Tweed is largely characterised by what art historian John Rothenstein called “a kind of gloomy lyricism.” Lowry often claimed to use just five colours in his paintings, vermillion, ivory black, Prussian blue, yellow ochre and flake white.
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ABOUT L. S. LOWRY, BERWICK UPON TWEED, SIGNED LITHOGRAPH, EDITION OF 650, 1973
L.S. Lowry is a much-loved British painter known for pictures that capture urban life in industrial north west England, most notably during the 1920s. Born in 1887 in Stretford, Lancashire, Laurence Stephen Lowry later moved to Pendlebury near Manchester where he lived and worked for over 40 years. The area, which he at first detested, was covered in factories and cotton mills that Lowry would soon obsessively depict. His fascination with the industrial landscapes and the people that inhabited them was inspired by a missed train. Standing on the platform at Pendlebury station, Lowry would later write of the view of the Acme Spinning Company’s mill, saying “I watched this scene – which I’d look at many times without seeing – with rapture.”Learn more about L. S. Lowry.