L. S. LOWRY, CASTLE BY THE SEA, SIGNED LITHOGRAPH, EDITION OF 75, 1969
Castle By The Sea is a lithograph from 1969 by L. S. Lowry that shows a monochrome sketch of a seaside landscape with a number of figures enjoying the beach. The sea was a significant source of inspiration for Lowry. During the 1960s, the artist regularly visited the northeast, staying at the Seaburn Hotel in Sunderland in a room from which he could see the North Sea.
Unlike other British artists such as J. M. W. Turner, Lowry’s rural landscapes did not record the effects of light or weather and instead focused on the presence of people and their leisure activities in the landscape. There is very little detail in the sky and the ground is rendered flat by Lowry’s use of line. The artist’s ‘matchstick-men’ stand out against the landscape, appearing like silhouettes as they go about their business.
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. Castle By The Sea is one such study, maintaining a sketchy quality as though executed quickly from life. During his prolific career, the artist produced over 8,000 drawings.
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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.
