One of the most important collections of paintings and drawings by world-renowned British artist L.S. Lowry are to be offered for sale in an exhibition at the MacConnal-Mason Gallery in London in November 2012. The paintings, some of which have been unseen in public for over 70 years, come from a private UK collection.

Laurence Stephen Lowry is undoubtedly the most universally recognized artist in the United Kingdom. Popularly known for his ‘stick figures’ and industrial landscapes Lowry was, and has remained, an enigmatic figure. He has been considered a very private man, a solitary artist walking the streets searching for subject matter, a recluse, and an artist passionate about his subject. The last statement is most certainly true, he was passionate and persevering. Success outside the North West came to him in his fifties, but Lowry was a sociable man with a wide circle of friends, friends in the artistic, literary and cultural life of Manchester who were admirers and advocates of his work.

Following his first exhibition in London in 1939 Lowry rapidly achieved enormous success, his paintings were soon to be found in National Collections and city art galleries and museums both in the UK and abroad.

These works span Lowry’s career including paintings from every decade from the 1920’s to the 1970’s, many of which include Lowry’s closest friends and supporters in the provenance. Highlights from the collection include an important painting dating from 1932. ‘Excavations at Manchester’ portrays the building of Rylands Head office and warehouse. Rylands was one of the largest companies in Manchester trading in cotton; the building is now Debenhams department store in Market Street.

Further highlights include ‘A Street Orator’ - a seminal work from 1922, exhibited in the City of Manchester Art Gallery Retrospective Exhibition of 1959, and once the property of David Carr - a close friend and supporter of Lowry’s. Lowry was a committed football supporter, of Bolton wanderers, and football appears in a number of his works. ‘Industrial Landscape of 1934’ which had once been in the collection of Wilfred Evill, one of the greatest patrons of twentieth century British art, incorporates a view of a football match with crowds converging on the ground. A further footballing work is a remarkably fine drawing, ‘Holt Town’, showing a football match on a ground adjacent to the present Etihad Stadium, home to Manchester City FC. Other works include a number of almost mystical seascapes both from the North West and the North East, an area to which Lowry frequently returned in his later years.

David L. Mason, OBE states, “This is one of the most important collections of Lowry’s to appear on the market and I am delighted and excited that we have the opportunity to present them to a new generation of collectors. The Exhibition will be a rare opportunity to acquire paintings by Lowry of the highest quality’.

The exhibition will run from 14th November to 11th December at the MacConnal-Mason Gallery at 14 & 17 Duke Street, St James, London, SWIY 6DB.

For further information, contact Susan Rose at PFH Agency, 01823 323363, info@prioryfield-house.co.uk>info@prioryfield-house.co.uk or contact Simon Carter or Marcus Halliwell at MacConnal-Mason on 0207 8397693, or by email at fineart@macconnal-mason.com