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Lot Essay
The son of a wealthy biscuit manufacturer, David Carr was twenty-nine when he first met Lowry in 1943. An artist himself, Carr wrote a letter to Lowry in that year to ask whether a painting called On the Sands, Lytham, which he greatly admired and later bought, was still available to be purchased. In the letter he explained the importance of Lowry's work to him, 'Your painting is much more to me than just decoration on the wall and has given a new vision of town life, and often when not working I wander about trying to see the landscape through your eyes ... Please excuse me for talking about my own feelings but I couldn't resist the temptation of doing so to someone who understands the soul, the character, or what you will, of those slums and town fringes as you do, in their queer and often ghastly beauty' (cited in S. Rohde, L.S. Lowry A Biography, Salford, 1979, p. 318).
This letter had a powerful effect on Lowry, and the two artists became close friends. In 1945 Lowry was invited to visit David Carr and his family at their home in Norfolk, 'The Carr children thought Lowry fascinating ... [they] quickly learned to identify and report "Lowry figures" among the inhabitants of nearby farms' (op. cit., p. 320).
This letter had a powerful effect on Lowry, and the two artists became close friends. In 1945 Lowry was invited to visit David Carr and his family at their home in Norfolk, 'The Carr children thought Lowry fascinating ... [they] quickly learned to identify and report "Lowry figures" among the inhabitants of nearby farms' (op. cit., p. 320).