Two notable paintings by the renowned artist LS Lowry were sold for a combined total of nearly £1.5 million at Christie’s auction on Wednesday.
The first painting, depicting Senhouse Street in Maryport, Cumbria, sold for £700,000. The second work, titled Going to the Station, set in Manchester, fetched £750,000, despite having a lower guide price.
Laurence Stephen Lowry, who passed away in 1976, is celebrated for his representations of working-class life in industrial northern England. In the 1955 oil painting Senhouse Street, the Queen’s Head Inn can be seen prominently at the bottom right corner. Although the painting was expected to sell for between £700,000 and £1 million, it ultimately sold for less than the estimated range following a brisk bidding session lasting approximately 90 seconds at St James’ Cathedral in London.
A spokesperson for the auction house remarked, “It is very rare for a Lowry work to have a known landscape that is still recognizable today.”
Going to the Station, painted in 1962, was completed just a year before Lowry’s death and portrays scenes from his hometown of Manchester. This piece had been in the same family estate since 1975 prior to its sale.
The painting of Senhouse Street was originally acquired at an exhibition in 1956 and had three previous owners before being gifted in 1959, after which it was auctioned at Christie’s in June 2004.
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