Additional Images

Provenance:

Gifted from Lowry to British artist and friend, Harold Francis Riley (born 1934-), Salford, UK;
Gifted to Mrs. Westwell (the present owner’s grandmother), Manchester, England, UK;
By descent to the granddaughter, Toronto, ON, circa 1986

Literature:

Harold Francis Riley and Laurence Stephen Lowry met in art school in 1945 and the two artists remained closest friends for more than 30 years. For a discussion on Riley’s association with Lowry, see “Northern Soul: He was a genius and a joker: The real Lowry, by his oldest friend,” Daily Mail, 22 June 2013

Note:

Harold Francis Riley and Laurence Stephen Lowry met in art school in 1945 and the two artists remained closest friends for more than 30 years. For a discussion on Riley’s association with Lowry, see “Northern Soul: He was a genius and a joker: The real Lowry, by his oldest friend,” Daily Mail, 22 June 2013

Harold Francis Riley, born December 21, 1934 in Salford, Lancashire, England, befriended L.S. Lowry when he was 11 years old. It is reported in the Daily Mail newspaper review that “Nobody knew Lowry better than artist Harold Riley.” Lowry awarded Riley his first art prize at a Salford Grammar School art exhibition in 1945. Lowry helped Riley sell his first artwork to Albert Frape, the curator at the Salford (City) Art Gallery school in 1945. Referred to as both “Lowry’s protégé” and his “partner in mischief,” on the eve of Lowry’s retrospective at the Tate in 1976, Riley states, “‘It was the first picture I sold and Lowry was responsible… he had an immense kindness.’” Riley was Lowry’s strongest supporter and stated, “technically he (Lowry) was a master. His control, the way he put on paint or applied various glazes he himself made, was so sophisticated.”

The subject of the present lot was well known to Harold Riley. Riley believed his main work was to document the city and his life-cycle in Salford in paintings, drawings and photographs. His deep affection for his home town cemented a friendship with L.S. Lowry. Following Albert Frape’s suggestion, Lowry and Riley worked together on the Salford City project until the end of the 20th Century. “Frape said to Lowry, ‘I think it would be rather nice to have this city recorded for a century – you’ve done the first 50 years,’ and then Lowry turned and asked me (Riley) to do the second 50.”

The Salford City Council created an archive and studio for Riley in the conservation area around the old fire station on the Crescent in Salford.

This lot from Lowry’s personal art collection is testimony to the close friendship of the two artists and their association with the Salford City project.