Ian’s review of L S LOWRY (0000) > Likes and Comments
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Looking forward to seeing what you have to say about this one, Ian. It seems to have been well received.
It's enjoyable! It's very short. I'll probably finish it today.
I think - if memory serves - there is a large and prestigious art gallery in Manchester called - The Lowry - I'm visiting the UK this month - so I will check it out. I remember being taken to see his pictures - when we were kids - a day-trip into Manchester - and I remember thinking his landscapes were very dour - I would have used "grey" - as a kid.
Laura wrote: "I think - if memory serves - there is a large and prestigious art gallery in Manchester called - The Lowry - I'm visiting the UK this month - so I will check it out. I remember being taken to see h..."
They were dour! He says in the interview in this book that he was attracted to ugliness - derelict houses and the like. He generally used a white background, but the book notes that the colours he used were overwhelmingly black, blue, red and ochre.
I like the way he puts his matchstick people in motion.
I haven't been to Manchester in decades, but a check on the web tells me The Lowry has around 400 of his pieces, including 57 of his oil paintings. Presumably the rest are sketches and drawings. If I were going I would stick to the 57 paintings. Four hundred pieces would be too much for me to take in.
Enjoy your trip!
A nice easy book for you, Ian, and it felt like you really enjoyed doing the review. Your remark about the way the people moved made me look back at the pictures and I like the symmetry (or slight asymmetry) of the people on either side of the bridge.
Manchester might be afire at the moment, since our new PM took office!
J.C. wrote: "A nice easy book for you, Ian, and it felt like you really enjoyed doing the review. Your remark about the way the people moved made me look back at the pictures and I like the symmetry (or slight ..."
Thanks Jeanne!
We'll have to see how long "Our Andy" lasts. Between 1980 and 2007 we had 3 Prime Ministers. Since that time we've had eight, including 7 in the last 10 years. Their tenure now resembles that of football managers.
Manchester's sheer size (population c.3million) makes it an important part of the British economy. There were some figures released in 2023 that suggested it was second only to London in terms of total economic output within the UK. It was followed by Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The GDP per head for cities was quite different though. London and Edinburgh were well ahead of all the others, with Milton Keynes clear in third position. Belfast, Glasgow, Bristol and Brighton followed in a group all with similar GDP per head. I was surprised to see Glasgow in that list. Of course things might have changed since 2023.
Interesting review and some badly needed art history for me. Thanks 😀
You've brought Lowry to life and made me want to see his work in real-life (unlikely, alas). His industrial landscapes are so luminous, alive, vibrant -- making us able to see beauty where "in real life" we might not have seen it. Also very evocative for me, as I grew up in the industrial city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which had a lot of scenes like that during my childhood, later losing its heavy, smoke-belching industry to Asia ... and with those patches of snow, partially melted ...
The portrait is intriguing, especially the large eyes which seem to gaze somewhere into the beyond, not at the viewer (unlike portraits whose eyes "follow" the viewer). That narrow, stylized head and shoulders remind me a bit of Modigliani yet it's quite different.
Patricia wrote: "Interesting review and some badly needed art history for me. Thanks 😀"
Thanks Trish! I could improve on my knowledge of art history as well!
Caterina wrote: "You've brought Lowry to life and made me want to see his work in real-life (unlikely, alas). His industrial landscapes are so luminous, alive, vibrant -- making us able to see beauty where "in real..."
Thank you so much Caterina, for your kind words and for those very perceptive comments about Lowry's art. I enjoyed all your observations and particularly those about the portrait.
I don't know too much about U.S. sport but I think I recall that Pittsburgh's NFL team is called the "Steelers" in recognition of the city's industrial heritage.
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Sep 10, 2026 11:03PM
Looking forward to seeing what you have to say about this one, Ian. It seems to have been well received.
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It's enjoyable! It's very short. I'll probably finish it today.
I think - if memory serves - there is a large and prestigious art gallery in Manchester called - The Lowry - I'm visiting the UK this month - so I will check it out. I remember being taken to see his pictures - when we were kids - a day-trip into Manchester - and I remember thinking his landscapes were very dour - I would have used "grey" - as a kid.
Laura wrote: "I think - if memory serves - there is a large and prestigious art gallery in Manchester called - The Lowry - I'm visiting the UK this month - so I will check it out. I remember being taken to see h..."They were dour! He says in the interview in this book that he was attracted to ugliness - derelict houses and the like. He generally used a white background, but the book notes that the colours he used were overwhelmingly black, blue, red and ochre.
I like the way he puts his matchstick people in motion.
I haven't been to Manchester in decades, but a check on the web tells me The Lowry has around 400 of his pieces, including 57 of his oil paintings. Presumably the rest are sketches and drawings. If I were going I would stick to the 57 paintings. Four hundred pieces would be too much for me to take in.
Enjoy your trip!
A nice easy book for you, Ian, and it felt like you really enjoyed doing the review. Your remark about the way the people moved made me look back at the pictures and I like the symmetry (or slight asymmetry) of the people on either side of the bridge.Manchester might be afire at the moment, since our new PM took office!
J.C. wrote: "A nice easy book for you, Ian, and it felt like you really enjoyed doing the review. Your remark about the way the people moved made me look back at the pictures and I like the symmetry (or slight ..."Thanks Jeanne!
We'll have to see how long "Our Andy" lasts. Between 1980 and 2007 we had 3 Prime Ministers. Since that time we've had eight, including 7 in the last 10 years. Their tenure now resembles that of football managers.
Manchester's sheer size (population c.3million) makes it an important part of the British economy. There were some figures released in 2023 that suggested it was second only to London in terms of total economic output within the UK. It was followed by Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The GDP per head for cities was quite different though. London and Edinburgh were well ahead of all the others, with Milton Keynes clear in third position. Belfast, Glasgow, Bristol and Brighton followed in a group all with similar GDP per head. I was surprised to see Glasgow in that list. Of course things might have changed since 2023.
Interesting review and some badly needed art history for me. Thanks 😀
You've brought Lowry to life and made me want to see his work in real-life (unlikely, alas). His industrial landscapes are so luminous, alive, vibrant -- making us able to see beauty where "in real life" we might not have seen it. Also very evocative for me, as I grew up in the industrial city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which had a lot of scenes like that during my childhood, later losing its heavy, smoke-belching industry to Asia ... and with those patches of snow, partially melted ...The portrait is intriguing, especially the large eyes which seem to gaze somewhere into the beyond, not at the viewer (unlike portraits whose eyes "follow" the viewer). That narrow, stylized head and shoulders remind me a bit of Modigliani yet it's quite different.
Patricia wrote: "Interesting review and some badly needed art history for me. Thanks 😀"Thanks Trish! I could improve on my knowledge of art history as well!
Caterina wrote: "You've brought Lowry to life and made me want to see his work in real-life (unlikely, alas). His industrial landscapes are so luminous, alive, vibrant -- making us able to see beauty where "in real..."Thank you so much Caterina, for your kind words and for those very perceptive comments about Lowry's art. I enjoyed all your observations and particularly those about the portrait.
I don't know too much about U.S. sport but I think I recall that Pittsburgh's NFL team is called the "Steelers" in recognition of the city's industrial heritage.