L.S. LOWRY, HIS FAMILY, SIGNED OFFSET COLOUR LITHOGRAPH, EDITION OF 500, 1972
Inspired by the image of a family at a bus stop with all members having the appearance of being very smart and intellectual, Lowry included both himself and his famously mysterious character ‘Ann’ in this particular painting. This mythical ‘Ann’ figure appearing in the same work along with Lowry is extremely rare within the artist’s oeuvre. His own figure can be found on the far right with a sketchbook, as a detached onlooker watching the family members from over his shoulder. The two characters identified as his enigmatic god daughters, whom no one had ever met, are the two girls with the long black braids. Lowry painted many portraits of this figure, usually depicting her alone. The characters, though making up one family unit, seem to be standing at distance from each other as isolated individuals, which could be read as a commentary on the kind of urban alienation the artist was interested in representing in his work. The male character in the centre is the father, wearing a disappointed frown.
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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.
