Lowry Welsh scene sells for twice estimate
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expected value at auction yesterday, selling for £321,600.
Procession In South Wales, Whit Monday, which was painted in 1963 by LS
Lowry was sold to an anonymous bidder by Christie's in London .
It was one of three in a collection by the artist, whose later career
became synonymous with the South Wales Valleys as he fell in love with
its industrial look.
Experts say the scene is unlikely to be based on just one specific
location in South Wales, and that Lowry would have carried out the
actual painting in his studio near Manchester.
However the Cwm area of Ebbw Vale is likely to have been the main
influence for the painting.
It was sold as one of three from the collection of the late Robert
Sangster, racehorse owner and son of Vernon Sangster.
Lowry's rediscovered masterpiece - his 1962 work The Liver Building -
fetched £1,072,000 while A Quarrel, which Lowry painted in 1935, was
bought for £512,000.
All paintings were bought by separate, anonymous bidders.
A spokesman for Christie's, who said yesterday they had hoped to get
£150,000 for the painting, said, "This is a fantastic sale.
"To get so much more than the guide price is obviously good news."
Lowry, who was originally from the Manchester area, carried out much of
his later work in the South Wales Valleys when the coal industry was
thriving.
He was a close friend of Monty Bloom, who was from the Rhondda Valley.
Arts Council of Wales art director David Alston, former curator at the
Lowry museum at Salford, said he began to have an affinity with South
Wales as the landscape he grew up with in Manchester began to change.
"In the 1960s the old industrial landscapes were beginning to disappear
in his native Manchester.
"He was attracted to South Wales and he was friends with a guy called
Monty Bloom.
"He based himself in Ebbw Vale and painted a lot of the Valleys.
"Some of his biggest pictures ever were inspired by Welsh scenes.
"You've got paintings like Ebbw Vale, Bargoed and Abertillery."
However while those paintings are specific to one area, it is likely
The Procession is an amalgamation of his experiences in Wales.
"Wherever The Procession is meant to be, it's definitely a Valleys
site.
"It's most likely a composite of different areas.
"He may have got the streets from one area, and the background or
horizon from another.
"He would have been familiar with processions, having been used to a
Methodist area like the North, and the procession in the painting is
probably one he actually saw in South Wales.
"The painting itself would have been done at his home, although he
would have taken drawings and sketches at the scenes.
"That's not unusual."
However Mr Alston believes there is one location in the Valleys which
will almost definitely have had an influence.
"If you have to pin it down to anywhere, it could be Cwm, in Ebbw
Vale," he said.
"There are other drawings of his where some of the background is
similar, and we know they are from the Cwm area."
The paintings went under the hammer on the final day of sales for
Christie's British Art Week.
The total from five auctions dedicated entirely to British art and
furniture was £32.8m - the highest ever total for a week of British
art sales at Christie's.
Highlight of the week was JMW Turner's The Blue Rigi, which fetched a
world record price of £5.8m.