L. S. LOWRY, PUNCH AND JUDY, SIGNED LITHOGRAPH, EDITION OF 75, 1943
Punch And Judy is a typical scene by L. S. Lowry from 1943, showing a mass of people from all walks of life going about their daily business. As with many of the artist’s works, this scene is depicted in simple colours. Lowry often claimed to use just five colours in his paintings, vermillion, ivory black, Prussian blue, yellow ochre and flake white.
As implied by the print’s title, the background of this scene shows crowds of people gathering to watch the traditional British puppet show ‘Punch and Judy’ that features the characters Mr. Punch and his wife Judy. These puppet booths were iconic features of English seaside resorts and working class leisure time, and so this subject is apt for Lowry in his depiction of working people on their days off in town.
The composition is crammed full of people, providing the print with the frenetic energy of city life. Despite the busy, swarm of people that creates a sense of bustle to the image, like many of Lowry’s works there is a solemn and lonely element to this print. The figures, though in close proximity to one another, seem isolated from one another and from the viewer who looks to the bustling crowd from an elevated distance.
Discover more L.S. Lowry artworks.
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.
