Description: Prior to my visit to the Lowry Gallery in Salford Quays, I didn't know too much about Manchester's most renowned artist. In fact, I am slightly ashamed to admit that my knowledge was limited to having seen a couple of his more famous pictures and hearing the Gilbert O'Sullivan song 'Matchstick Cats and Dogs', which is about Lowry. I was labouring under the misguided impression that Lowry did little more than paint matchstick people set against an industrial backdrop. Thankfully, visiting the gallery educated me somewhat and allowed me to appreciate the true nature of one of Britain's most important modern artists. I quickly learned two important things about Lowry. The first was that Lowry created an wonderfully authentic picture of working-class life in the North of England. Second, Lowry was a far better painter than he is often given credit for. His most famous works might feature matchstick people, but he is about much more than that.
The gallery features two large room Lowry's work. The first features a variety of Lowry's works. Chief amongst these are some of his most famous pieces. There scenes depicting the centre of Manchester during its industrial heyday that are frighteningly busy and full of the matchstick people that are associated with Lowry. If I am honest, the actual art-work here did not really grip me. There did not seem too much in terms of subtlety - Lowry's major creative device seemed to be sheer scale and little more. The pictures only really spoke to me for their historical significance as they worked to create a wonderfully crowded and dirty atmosphere, which would probably be a rather accurate depiction of northern England in the early part of the twentieth century. My favourite piece was a scene that showed the crowd walking towards a football game. I loved the fact that Lowry had his matchstick figures at an angle as though walking into a strong head-wind.
The second room also contained a few numbers that were much the same. However, whereas the majority of the works in the first room could best be described with adjectives like 'busy' or even 'cluttered', the second room featured several that were much simpler and focused far more on purer imagery. These proved to be far more interesting and far more arresting. Without his trademark figures, Lowry used far more light and a much more delicate approach to his paintings. He still didn't really get too close to any form of 'Realist' approach, but the pieces somehow seemed to be slightly more serious. There were a couple of pictures that featured river or seaside scenes that were wonderful as well as a picture depicting the aftermath of a fire at a cotton mill, which used the effects of smoke and sunlight wonderfully.
The Lowry Gallery is interesting enough in itself. However, there are also often visiting exhibits to make any excursion there even more interesting. When we visited, there was a display of black and white photography that featured famous British comedians. I found this interesting, but it would have left most foreign visitors cold - my girlfriend is Bulgarian and scarcely recognised any of the people who were featured. Thankfully, of wider appeal was an exhibition of work by the 1960s pop artist Peter Blake who was famous for designing the cover of the Beatlles album Seargant Pepper. It was a fantastic exhibit that included artwork from some of the world's most famous recording artists that had been done by Blake.
A visit to the Lowry Gallery is certainly worthwhile, especially when you consider that admission is free ()ou are asked for a donation but it is not compulsory). The permanent Lowry exhibit is very good, but I found the visiting exhibits just as interesting.
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