Lowry, Lawrence Stephen (1887-1976)

Lowry, Lawrence Stephen

PAINTER (ENGLAND)

BORN 1 Nov 1887, Manchester, Lancashire: 8 Barrett Street, Stretfort - DIED 23 Feb 1976, Glossop: Woods Hospital
CAUSE OF DEATH pneumonia
GRAVE LOCATION Manchester: Southern Cemetery, Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy (C 772)

Lawrence Stephen Lowry worked as a clerk until his retirement and was a painter at the same time. From the 1920s onwards he frequently exhibited in Manchester. His father died in 1932. He was very attached to his mother but shortly after his commercial success started she died in 1939. He stated afterwards that his success had come too late.

He was well known for his industrial landscapes and his paintings of people and animals. Many of his pictures show Pendlebury in Greater Manchester where he worked for forty years.

He retired from his job at the Pall Mall Property Company in 1952 after he reached the age of 65. During the late 1950s his fame grew and he started disliking visits from strangers at his home. He supported the young artist Sheila Fell by buying her works and donating them to museums. They remained friends until his death and often painted together in the countryside. He always called her 'Miss Fell'.

Although he was a loner, he was elected into the Royal Academy in 1962. He met a girl who shared his last name, Carol Ann Lowry, in 1957 when she was thirteen years old after she had asked for his advice because she wanted to become a painter. He befriended her and her family for the rest of his life. In 1969 he bought the painting "Pandora" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and he gave it away to Carol Ann.

He never married and in old age he stated that he never had a woman. He died in 1976 in Glossop. Carol Ann Lowry was his heir and she sold the Rossetti for GBP 2,600,000 in 2000. Many of Lowry's works can be seen at The Lowry, an art gallery on Salford Quays in Manchester dedicated to his work.

Related persons
• has a connection with Rossetti, Dante Gabriel

Images
The grave of Laurence Stephen Lowry at Southern Cemetery, Manchester. Picture by Androom (17 Aug 2011)	"Clifford's Tower, York". (1952-1953, York: York Art Gallery)