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Lot Essay
Lowry only ever used public transport and rail travel was a particular favourite. It afforded the opportunity to study fellow travellers at close range, as well as to view the open countryside from the comfort of a warm carriage. Lowry regularly travelled from Pendlebury Station on the Bolton Road, half a mile from his home at 117 Station Road, in the suburbs of Manchester. The jagged awning at Pendlebury, which hangs from the roof of the platform, is still visible today, although the station was decommissioned in 1960.
In the present work, the window of a stationary train provides the perfect viewpoint for people-watching a platform full of waiting commuters. Here humanity is spread before the viewer, and Lowry presents us with the bowler-hatted businessmen perusing their morning newspapers, the huddle of friendly groups who may meet here on a daily basis, or the occasional traveller, who looks out bleakly across the void, beyond the eyes of the artist, and almost into our own. We are complicit with Lowry and able to take on the pleasure of staring, without any embarrassing consequences. The station platform can provide the drama of a stage set, a full and diverse cast of characters, with the backdrop of the industrial landscape in which Lowry's churches, chimneys and terraces can spread out beyond the activity in the foreground.
The present drawing was executed in 1939 and is a rare example of such a fascinating subject. A later but very similar oil painting of The Railway Platform was painted in 1953 (sold in these Rooms, 25 November 2015, lot 5; private collection). Small changes have taken place over these years, as the sign for the waiting room has become the exit, the waiting dog is now tethered by a lead to a master, and the commuters appear to be more disposed towards leisure than work. The more informal atmosphere that pervades is perhaps indicative of Lowry's recent retirement in 1952, whereby the railway became a source of pleasure for exploring and recording the British Isles for the rest of his life.
In the present work, the window of a stationary train provides the perfect viewpoint for people-watching a platform full of waiting commuters. Here humanity is spread before the viewer, and Lowry presents us with the bowler-hatted businessmen perusing their morning newspapers, the huddle of friendly groups who may meet here on a daily basis, or the occasional traveller, who looks out bleakly across the void, beyond the eyes of the artist, and almost into our own. We are complicit with Lowry and able to take on the pleasure of staring, without any embarrassing consequences. The station platform can provide the drama of a stage set, a full and diverse cast of characters, with the backdrop of the industrial landscape in which Lowry's churches, chimneys and terraces can spread out beyond the activity in the foreground.
The present drawing was executed in 1939 and is a rare example of such a fascinating subject. A later but very similar oil painting of The Railway Platform was painted in 1953 (sold in these Rooms, 25 November 2015, lot 5; private collection). Small changes have taken place over these years, as the sign for the waiting room has become the exit, the waiting dog is now tethered by a lead to a master, and the commuters appear to be more disposed towards leisure than work. The more informal atmosphere that pervades is perhaps indicative of Lowry's recent retirement in 1952, whereby the railway became a source of pleasure for exploring and recording the British Isles for the rest of his life.