St Lukes Church Old Street - Laurence Stephen Lowry RA

L S Lowry moved to Pendlebury in Salford with his parents in 1909. Where he was to live for nearly 40 years. During this time he attended art classes at Salford School of Art. Subsequently he developing an interest in the urban and industrial landscape. He exhibited with the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts from 1919. As well as entering paintings in the Paris Salon. By the early 1930s he was exhibiting at the Royal Academy in London. He was awarded an honorary MA at Manchester University in 1945. Doctor of Letters in 1961. Elected to the Royal Academy in 1962, and given freedom of the City of Salford in 1965. He lived in Mottram until he died in 1976. A death marked by unprecedented homage by the ‘ordinary people’ of Manchester. Lowry is unquestionably one of the most celebrated British artists and his unique contribution to recording the period. Culture and landscape of industrial Salford and Manchester is without parallel. His work is a most distinctive and comprehensive record of the pre and post World War Two northern industrial town.

Laurence Stephen Lowry is famous for painting scenes of life in the industrial districts of North West England in the mid-20th century. L. S. Lowry developed a distinctive style of painting and is best known for his urban landscapes peopled with human figures often referred to as "matchstick men". Lowry painted mysterious un-populated landscapes, brooding portraits and the unpublished "marionette" works, which were only found after his death.