Is it Laurence or Lawrence? How ever his first name was spelt, I have blogged about L.S.Lowry before - here and here. A week ago, before I reached my aunt's funeral in north Manchester, I tarried for a while in Mottram in Longdendale. It was in this overgrown village on the edge of the Pennines that Lowry lived out the last twenty eight years of his long life, still painting and still being an awkward so and so - loving humanity and yet hating it at the same time. He could never really fit in.
This was his house - "The Elms" on Stalybridge Road. When the new owners moved in a couple of years ago they peeled back the carpet and found Lowry's paint splattered all over the floorboards of the front room:-
I had a boyfriend from mottrom once
ReplyDeleteHe was a pig
And had a girlfriend to whom he got married to
John you really shouldn't have picked a pig as a boyfriend, You'd have been much better off with a goat or an alpaca. Much more loyal.
DeleteOoh I like Lowry's painting. I will go back and read your other posts tonight ~ something to look forward to after I come out of school. Did you sit down and have a chat with Lowry? I would like to think he would have lots of advice from years of sitting and people watching. BTW ~ love your pink Mini ~ very you!
ReplyDeleteNaughty Carol! That reminds me that in my challenging North Sheffield secondary school, if a kid ever asked me which car in the car park was mine I would habitually say. "It's the pink Robin Reliant parked behind the City Learning Centre." Well, I wouldn't want to tell them the truth would I?
DeleteSorry to say that I had never heard of Mr. Lowry before your post. After a little research, I can say that I do like his paintings a lot. Real, natural, energetic, truthful. And he always took the bus!! Well, in his later years, at least. But, the one question that all Americans, if they knew about him, would no doubt ask is, "Did he ever have a woman"?
ReplyDeleteHe had his mother - that's all. Besides, women talk too much.
DeleteHyde, Mottram and Stalybridge are places I enjoy. I don't know why as they are a bit grim on a typically damp day.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we are drawn to places that reflect our inner selves! A bit grim on a typically damp day may just about sum you up Senor Ade!
DeleteThe statue is great! I like this type of statue much more than the "godlike" representation of an artist on a pedestal (although of course the statue of Schiller in my hometown is one I have admired from when I was very little).
ReplyDeleteFunny how there is doubt as to how his name is spelled.
Do you mean Marbach - Schiller's birthplace?
DeleteI am impressed, YP - not that many people outside Germany (or outside Baden-Württemberg!) know where Schiller was born!
DeleteYes, Marbach is an hour's walk from Ludwigsburg.
Ambassador Arian - I am not so clever and am happy to admit that I consulted my old friend Professor Google!
DeleteWell that's another coffee break taken up with reading about a recently blogged subject. I very much enjoy Lowry's art but could recall relatively little about him (I have always had a poor memory) so I've just had a happy half hour journey through his life. Thank you for the kickstart.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Graham. My memory is also like a sieve. You're welcome Graham.
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