LS Lowry was 22 when he moved with his parents to the
industrial town of Pendlebury on the outskirts of Manchester. By day he
walked the streets as a rent collector, but in the evening he had another
life as a painter. Each night, he shut himself in the attic of his parents'
house, painting the cotton mills, red brick terraces and smoking chimneys
that he saw on his daily rounds.
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For years, Lowry was ridiculed for his childlike paintings of industrial
landscapes. Local councillors said he they were "an insult to the
people of Manchester" and even his own mother laughed at their ugliness.
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Industrial Landscape was painted in 1955, when Lowry
was finally experiencing popular acclaim for his work. Here are the cotton
mills and factories, the coal mines and back-to-back cottages from which
he drew inspiration as he walked the streets of Pendlebury and Salford.
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Industrial Landscape is an imaginary composition, but elements of the
view are recognisable as real places. For example, the Stockport Viaduct,
which constantly haunted the artist, can be seen in the top left of the
picture.
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Lowry produced over 10,000 works, ranging from finished oil paintings
to hastily drawn sketches. He was not discovered until 1939, when he was
52 years old, and his first one-man exhibition followed immediately.
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