L. S. Lowry | TateShots

'Lowry is Britain's preeminent painter of the industrial city' says Tate curator Helen Little, as she introduces the exhibition 'Lowry and the Painting of Modern Life'.

For Lowry, modern painting needed to represent the remaining rituals of public life: football matches and protest marches, evictions and fist-fights, workers going to and from the mill. Without his pictures, Britain would arguably lack an account in paint of the experiences of the 20th-century working class.

As a modern painter Lowry wished to show what the industrial revolution had made of the world, yet his dominant status in British art coincided with a disappearance of the industrialised world he engaged with.

Curator Helen Little takes us on a tour of the Lowry exhibition at Tate Britain in this TateShots video.

[morrisdancer]

0:46 "poor slums". I cannot abide the patronising approach that an academic takes to describe a world outside theirs. I live in Ashton-under-Lyne the subject of one of his works and we see ourselves and our landscape in his works. 0:57 "a hawkers cart" most of my contemporaries would have called it the rag and bone man who exchanged rags and meat bones for cleaning stones which we proudly rubbed on our front door steps. Ok. I'm being a bit sensitive about this but we called ourselves "working class" and were proud of it too, it meant we supported our families no matter how little we had to do it with. I love the cobbles and mill chimneys as that is me and I love it. Lancashire Lass.

[Joyce-Barker]

Always enjoyed his work. Since I moved away I purchased 3 copies of his works because they represent my childhood.
But there is one more I need and that is Ancoats hospital waiting room.and then my life is complete.
I hope to find it..From the cobbled streets of Manchester ...Enjoy.

[errol-ihjy]

LOWRY THE GREATEST PAINTER OF ALL TIME, WHO ELSE WOULD INVENT, OUT OF HIS OWN HEAD, PEOPLE IN MATCHSTICK FORM, NO OTHER ARTIST HAS DONE THAT.

[lowryandberry]

I visited this exhibition at Tate Britain and loved it. Wonderful news to see that a Lowry and Arthur Berry exhibition will be at The Stoke on Trent city art gallery in July this year. July 25th to Jan 10th 2016.

[stormhawk]

The humblest painter who ever lived.
And quintessentially a northern English gentleman.

[Anna-itnj]

We have in Argentina a painter called Benito Quinquela Martin., that use to paint the same things ; port, industrial areas, but the colors he used, were more intense colors.

[carpetmanist]

I was here today. A fantastic exhibition and I would definitely recommend a visit here. The way the rooms are themed makes it digestible and engaging.

I think there should be a discount for entry for a Manchester accent like mine though!

[Tate]

We used Canon L Series lenses for this film.

It is a shame we couldn't show more details in this film, but sadly not all the works are cleared to be shown in that way.

[mickeymunkchunk]

Lowry was our rent man on Ivy St Higher Broughton Salford.

[lmhr]

It would have been nice to see the work minus the barrier's infront. Also - it would have been great to see those books in the display case in more detail. Well shot though - did you use Nikon primes to shoot these by any chance?

[richardnz]

I really like Helen's explanation of the details within the paintings, especially the significance of some of the features, e.g. socio-economic meaning of the hawker. Made the meaning of the painting much deeper, creating more atmosphere.

[Nathan.Manchester]

Wonderful Video - a like and Subscribe from Lowrys home city 👍

[annahope]

His work is OK, but his character was more important. Your Turner, well he was ahead of the crowd. He indirectly was responsible for the seeds of impressionism and the loose painting technique. Monet saw his work when he stayed in London. If you have seen Turner's paintings, especially the later ones, you would know why and how he influenced Monet.

[redtobertshateshandles]

He is a working class hero. Some snobs of low self esteem and low work ethic find a problem with it. My dad knew a few real upper class people who he described as wonderful. The wannabees he wasn't impressed with.

[jr-vnvq]

I find listening to an art curator talking about Lowry difficult. It needs someone with real understanding of the subject matter, who understands the detail & evocation, someone who lived & experienced the life.

[stevefarmer]

Lowry was a painter, not a philosopher. He wasn't trying to show us anything, he was painting pictures. Has this woman ever actually painted? If not, she should try it before she endows us with her over the top views of simple pictures. Lowry had nothing in his mind except turning out a decent painting.

[justmadeit]

I recently filmed 12 lowries and made a video, it's in my latest uploads on here from October 2018, check it out on my channel