Seaside Promenade
Signed Print

The sea was a significant source of inspiration for Lowry. During the 1960s, the artist regularly visited the northeast, staying at the Seaburn Hotel in Sunderland in a room from which he could see the North Sea. The scene is viewed from an elevated position so as to depict the view that stretches far into the distance, as though the artist was looking out from his hotel room. Rather than focus on the effects of weather and light on the sea and sky as would be expected of a typical seascape, Lowry’s drawing focuses on the presence of people and their leisure activities at the seaside.

Lowry’s lithographs Seaside Promenade are produced by hand whereby a plate is etched and inked, and the paper is then pressed onto the plate to produce an original. Due to this printing process, no two prints are exactly the same. Editions like these are therefore relatively small, in this case 75, and as a result they are rare and highly sought after items.

L. S. LOWRY, SEASIDE PROMENADE, SIGNED LITHOGRAPH, EDITION OF 75, 1967

L.S. Lowry is a much-loved British painter known for pictures that capture urban life in industrial north west England, most notably during the 1920s. Born in 1887 in Stretford, Lancashire, Laurence Stephen Lowry later moved to Pendlebury near Manchester where he lived and worked for over 40 years. The area, which he at first detested, was covered in factories and cotton mills that Lowry would soon obsessively depict. His fascination with the industrial landscapes and the people that inhabited them was inspired by a missed train. Standing on the platform at Pendlebury station, Lowry would later write of the view of the Acme Spinning Company’s mill, saying “I watched this scene – which I’d look at many times without seeing – with rapture.”