Christie's Announces Landmark Lowry Sale from the Collection of Selwyn Demmy

Written by Hector Covington Monday, 07 February 2011 00:00

LONDON.- Christie’s announce the landmark sale of 21 works by the iconic British artist Laurence Stephen Lowry, R..A. (1887-1976) to be offered at auction on Thursday 11 November 2010 from the private collection of Selwyn Demmy (b. 1932), renowned bookmaking magnate, boxing organiser and club owner. Only the very best collections illustrate, as this one does, the true breadth and depth of a single artist’s oeuvre. Comprising drawings and paintings which span the 1920s to the 1960s, this Lowry collection is the most important and extensive to be offered at auction in recent memory, as it celebrates not only the artist’s world renowned industrial cityscapes,  and his landscapes, seascapes and explorations of architecture.

Highlights within the diverse and significant works offered are led by The Playground, 1945 (estimate: £500,000-700,000), as well as three paintings which are offered alongside their highly finished accompanying studies in pencil, including The Steps, Irk Place, 1928 (estimate for the oil: £400,000-600,000 and the study: £60,000-80,000). With estimates ranging from £10,000 to £700,000, the collection is expected to realise in excess of £5million.

Selwyn Demmy: “I was born around the corner from L.S. Lowry, in Cheetham Hill, and am a Salford man born and bred. For me, the works of Lowry have a very powerful personal resonance as they capture the heart and soul of the people and landscape which I have loved and lived in all my life. This collection of 21 paintings and drawings has brought me huge pleasure over the years.

Selwyn particularly likes pictures with a story and has taken great pleasure over the years from the fact that he could drive to various locations and see aspects of the Lowry paintings in his collection, which are invariably composite scenes. "The Steps, Irk Place", 1928 (estimate: £400,000-600,000), is certainly one of the stars of the collection and ‘Irk Place’ still exists, behind Victoria Station in Manchester, though the actual name is Irk Street. Lowry worked in this area as a rent collector and regularly came into contact with the characters depicted. This is one of three paintings in the sale which is offered alongside a highly finished accompanying drawing and, as with each of the three ‘pairs’, the study (estimate: £60,000-80,000), demonstrates Lowry’s artistic licence; adding-in and taking-out a wide array of details from figures to windows and chimneys. The pleasure of looking at the two works side by side is enormous as one can play a gratifying game of spot the difference whilst gaining insight into Lowry’s style. It is very rare to have such a finished drawing to accompany an oil by Lowry. 

Selwyn began to collect art by Lowry in the early 1990s when the footballer Gary Owen, who won the Under 21 UEFA European Championship having scored two goals against Germany in 1982, suggested that he should buy Lowrys. The collection began with two pencil drawings: the very early, rather intriguing House on Botany, Clifton, 1926 (estimate: £15,000-20,000) and a looser, vigorously executed landscape Parton, Cumberland, 1956 which demonstrates Lowry’s power of capturing so much in so few lines (estimate: £15,000-20,000). These acquisitions were quickly followed by Selwyn’s longstanding favourite painting in the collection and one of the stars of the sale The Playground, 1945 (estimate: £500,000-700,000).

The Playground is a superb panoramic cityscape with enormous charm. The 1930s and 1940s are recognised as the greatest period in Lowry’s oeuvre, when his vision was strongest. This canvas, from 1945, is bustling with life and, as with the best of Lowry’s paintings, presents the viewer with a multiple of shared and private moments, with numerous smaller vignettes in front of, surrounding and beyond the central focus of the children’s slide.

Other fascinating works which reflect the diverse array of Lowry’s interests and styles include his early drawings: the smudged skies and enchanting architectural study A curved house, Maugersbury, 1930 (estimate: £25,000-35,000), and his pure, rather traditional landscape An Ancient Road, 1930 (estimate: £10,000-15,000).

In contrast, Lowry’s powerful River scene; Wasteland, 1935 (estimate: £200,000-300,000) captures the intensity of Northern industrialisation which he is known for, though without the dominance of his celebrated figures busily engaged in daily life, illustrated left. Factories are relegated into the background in An Open Space, 1968 (estimate: £250,000-350,000) which is thronging with whimsical activity, such as the twins with a football in the bottom left whose shorts are implied through the bare rather than painted canvas, as are the knees of the girl to their left.

The two final and significant works from the collection include Pit Tragedy, 1955 (estimate: £150,000-250,000), a subject that Lowry first depicted in the 1920s, in which the large figures are physically part of a group, though each moves alone as though isolated by personal grief. Study for the Steps, Maryport, 1956 (estimate: £80,000-120,000), is striking, with the zigzagging steps and lone figure who appears to be in limbo - neither going towards the steps, nor away from them - perhaps reflecting the unknown which lies ahead in both directions.

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