L. S. LOWRY, BLOOMSBURY SQUARE, SIGNED LITHOGRAPH, EDITION OF 75, 1967
Bloomsbury Square is a lithograph print from 1967 by L. S. Lowry that shows an image of a tramp curled up on a park bench. This is an unusual scene by Lowry in that it shows a single person rendered without any context or backdrop.
Using black ink against white paper, this print is made up of rough strokes and blurred lines so that the figure’s face is rather distorted. Much like his gloomy images of industrial landscapes, this is a debased portrait of a figure who has become subject to their environment. This print is indicative of Lowry’s interest in the people that populate his famous paintings and the great variety of characters that make up the towns and cities that he depicts.
Lowry’s lithographs like Bloomsbury Square 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. Editions like these are therefore relatively small, in this case 75, and as a result they are rare and highly sought after items.
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ABOUT L. S. LOWRY
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.
