L.S. LOWRY, THE HARBOUR (MAYPORT), SIGNED LITHOGRAPH, EDITION OF 850, 1972
Cumbria was a destination for Lowry on account of his friend and fellow artist Sheila Fell, who lived in Aspatria and another friend and collector, Geoffrey Bennett who lived in Maryport, where this painting was produced. The sea and landscapes of Cumbria made their way into his oeuvre, but only the Lowryan aspects that caught his attention during his travels. For example, in The Harbour, it was the working vessels, jet black with smoking funnels to mirror the smokestacks in the background, that caught his eye, rather than the leisure craft. Sea, sky and middle ground merge into one and other. The boats and buildings create repeating shapes that anchor the composition down. This work, as many of Lowry’s paintings do, also coincides with an important life event. In the year it was completed, Lowry received a letter from Carol Lowry, who he went on to tutor. They formed a close bond and she became somewhat of a muse to the older man. On his death in 1976 Carol inherited Lowry’s whole estate.
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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.”
