Laurence Stephen Lowry R.A.

(British, 1887-1976)

Holcombe Moor 26.3 x 31.1 cm. (10 3/8 x 12 1/4 in.)

Footnotes

Provenance
With Martin Grimes, Liverpool, where probably acquired by the family of the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.

The countryside offered Lowry a subject that was the complete antithesis to the hustle and bustle of life at his home in Manchester. As with the townscapes, his landscapes are seldom completely topographically accurate but largely improvised compositions that are drawn from the artist's memory and imagination. Although the cityscapes produced by Lowry are often invested with a feeling of isolation and exclusion, these feelings are perhaps more overtly felt or enhanced by the 'lonely landscapes' that are devoid of human activity. These rural paintings are conceived in quite a different mode to their urban counterparts and through works such as Holcombe Moor the viewer is most able to sense the artist's absolute isolation from the socialised world.

The title of the present work identifies the geographical location with Holcombe Moor located to the west of Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester. This was an area the artist knew well and within the present work, a monument stands as a focal point in the central distance, shrouded in mystery and almost floating on the horizon. The structure is the Peel Monument, which serves as one of two monuments in the area erected in memory of Prime Minister and founder of the police force, Robert Peel, who was born in nearby Bury. Lowry had incorporated such structures into landscape compositions since as far back as 1936, with A Landmark (The Lowry), being perhaps his most well-known example.