Mrs Swindell’s Picture L S Lowry

L.S. LOWRY, MRS SWINDELL’S PICTURE, SIGNED OFFSET LITHOGRAPH, EDITION OF 850, 1967

A small detail reveals a long story in Mrs Swindell’s Picture. On the right-hand side of the painting by the blue fence is a small cat. Bettie Swindell’s granddaughter insisted on this detail. Swindell was Lowry’s cleaning lady who cleaned his house and did his laundry for 22 years - Lowry completed this piece for her in 1967. It depicts the road Bettie walked every day to get to Lowry’s house. The hill to the Elms is populated by Lowry’s emblematic ragtag figures, watched over by tall brick walls, Albion Mill and church spires. The painting went through various phases of alterations and adaptations over a long period by Lowry to get it right. It’s an account of the amicable relationship between Swindell and Lowry - Bettie was only supposed to stay for two weeks at the artist’s residence, but eventually stayed on to become a friend and a loyal confidante. This picture had also become highly popular with audiences. It is called ‘Mrs Swindell’s Picture’ because Bettie couldn’t think of an appropriate title.

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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.