L.S. Lowry: a fresh look at the complex works of a self-described ‘simple man’
Alastair Smart | Christie’s | 23rd October 2026
Lowry has an odd backstory. He was a rent collector by day, painting only in the evenings. He lived at home and is not known to have had any romantic relationships. Combining what he saw from walking Manchester’s street with his artistic imagination, he captured the grime of the industrial landscape and people and places he said “nobody wanted”. Says one writer Lowry was a “visionary of the industrial age … a modern expressionist who finds his inner melancholy reflected in the industrial sublime”.