His large, raincoat body and hat are familiar. The figure standing outside a train station is LS Lowry.
The black and white photo is from the 1950s. And it was in 1953 that the artist completed an oil painting of the same location: Pendlebury train station, on Bolton Road, opposite St. Augustine’s Church.
The station was a mile from the artist’s home in Station Road, Pendlebury, and he used it regularly to commute to Manchester. The painting, which dates from 1953 and is titled The Railway Platform, showed a line of passengers. The jagged canopy hanging over the people on the platform in the painting is a distinctive frieze in yellow brick.
The last train to stop there was 23.21 from Manchester Victoria to Wigan on 1 October 1960. There were only six people on board, one of whom was a tradesman, Mr Jackson, a 37-year-old tradesman, from Chorley Road , Swinton, who bought the last ticket issued at Pendlebury station. He bought it from the keeper, Mr D White, and it was easy for Swinton.
When the station was closed by British Rail, John F. Kennedy was the President of the United States and Harold MacMillan was the British Prime Minister. But the station began life as part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway’s Pendleton and Hindley line which became (and still exists today as) the Manchester Victoria to Wigan Wallgate line.
By 1922 ownership had passed to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and after nationalization in 1949 it became the property of British Railways.
In 2015 The Railway Platform sold at auction for £1.6 million, £300,000 above its estimate at the time. It will be up for auction again at Christie’s on Tuesday of next week, but with an estimated price of up to £2m.
The work was first shown at the Lefevre Gallery in London. It was then with the Richard Green Gallery in London, where it was acquired by a private collector. At its sale it was sold by Sotheby’s, London, on November 15, 2011, and acquired by the previous owner. In a sale on November 25 it was acquired by the current owner.
The work is among five Lowry paintings to be auctioned at Christie’s on Tuesday. Nick Orchard, Director of British and Irish Modern Art at Christie’s. “LS Lowry’s works have an enduring appeal, as they represent the communities the artist encountered, whether at work or during his spare time. Lowry’s economy of detail seems to reach far beyond the canvas and the viewer is absorbed in the lives of others, captured in a moment still unconscious of his observer.
“The group of works featured in the upcoming British and Irish Modern Art auction season at Christie’s feature a full and varied range of subjects, including travelers congregating on the platform; a rare view of Glasgow Docks; and clock toweroffered from the collection of Manchester Guardian art critic Eric Newton”.
Lowry recalled an inspiring moment at Pendlebury Station that transformed his view of the industrial landscape. around him: “I missed a train from Pendlebury one day…and as I came out of the station I saw the Acme Spinning Company mill…The huge black frame of rows of yellow-lighted windows stood against the dreary, damp sky.” and laden with afternoon.The mill was turning… I watched this scene, which I had looked at many times without seeing, with ecstasy, he remembered.
This experience led Lowry to incorporate elements of local textile mills and factory chimneys into many of his works, and elements of the Acme Mill can be seen in two of his iconic paintings: Coming From The Mill (1930) and The Mill, Pendlebury, (1941).
The station painting is among a group of five Lowry paintings being included in a Tuesday night sale. They are: The Railway Platform (1953, estimate: £1,000,000-2,000,000); Clock Tower (1938, estimate: £400,000-600,000); Photo by Mrs. Swindells (1967, estimate; £250,000-350,000); A Lancashire farm (1945, estimate: £180,000-250,000); and glasgow docks (1947, estimate: £1,100,000-1,500,000
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