27 April 2010

Rediscover a Lowry masterpiece painting at Southampton City Art Gallery

"Drawn by Lowry" - the latest exhibition on until 4 July

Drawn by Lowry is the fascinating exhibition now on at Southampton City Art Gallery showing a collection of sketches and drawings by the great artist L S Lowry. Of course we are all used to his northern factory gate scenes bathed with smoke filled skies and engineered viaducts; however, this exhibition provides a unique opportunity to revisit Lowry’s famous Southampton Floating Bridge painting which is a clear centre piece.

The floating bridge, of which there were two crossing the River Itchen, is shown by Lowry as it appeared in 1955. Although the painting itself is dated 1956, Lowry visited Southampton in November 1955 and made some initial sketches which also included a sketch of Southampton Water dockside and distant Fawley oil refinery which can also be seen in this exhibition. There are several points to be aware of that makes te floating bridge painting worth seeing. First, the gallery have placed Lowry’s sketch alongside so the viewer can at once understand Lowry’s build up and key features that were intended from the beginning. Secondly, the painting captures in time a real working chain ferry ‘floating bridge’ that was important to the city’s economy. For each working day, city workers living in Woolston would have had to take the floating bridge, almost corralled, often at the mercy of the weather. Thirdly, the painting is spatially interesting for our viewpoint is within the frame and face-on. Lowry has placed the floating bridge due centre in the same way as he treated several of his iconic northern tenement rows. Look closely and you can see that Southamptonians using the floating bridge have the same weary expressions as Salford Mancunians walking home from the mills. Lowry’s The Floating Bridge, Southampton, is a remarkable work.

This is a small exhibition which benefits from several sketches and drawings on loan to the gallery. The fact that these are displayed within an intimate space allows for quiet contemplation time with Brian and Michael’s Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs hit song echoing in your ears!

This excellent exhibition is on until 4th July.

For more information on this exhibition and others at Southampton City Art Gallery, click here

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