L.S. Lowry RA 1887-1976

Going Home

Pencil drawing
6½ x 7½ ins (16.51 x 19.05 cms)

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Provenance

Gifted by the Artist to David Carr in the 1960s
The artist Prunella Clough and by decent
Private Collection

General Notes

This drawing is originally from the collection of David Carr (1915-1968), a young painter who became a collector of Lowry's work. The two became very close, and despite their very different ages and backgrounds, the friendship with Carr offered Lowry a new perspective and exposure to the work of the younger generation of artists. They seem to have first come into contact in the winter of 1943, after Carr viewed Lowry's Lefevre Gallery exhibition, and they corresponded regularly after this. Their letters clearly show that both artists enjoyed the cross-currents of ideas they discussed, and for Lowry, who had been working in a form of self-imposed isolation for over a decade, the impetus of Carr's personality and enthusiasm seems to have been of great importance.

Lowry regularly visited Carr and his family at their home in Norfolk where he had the opportunity to see not only Carr's own paintings but also his fine collection of works by other artists, such as William Roberts. A student at Cedric Morris' East Anglian School of Painting, where he was a contemporary of Lucian Freud, Carr had carefully collected both artists he knew and the work of those further afield. A key figure in the foundation of the Norfolk Contemporary Art Society and its first President, Carr was an active campaigner for the cause of modern and progressive art in the 1950s and 1960s as well as being an accomplished if now little seen painter whose untimely early death and apparent reluctance to exhibit has allowed him to become unjustifiably forgotten.

Over a period of years Carr built up a significant collection of Lowry's paintings and drawings. Many of the paintings he bought such as Home from the Pub, The Prayer Meeting (Private Collection) and The Creditors' Meeting (Private Collection), featured not crowds but collections or groupings of distinct individuals. As such, Lowry was able to bring a greater humanity and sensitivity to his rendition of these people, and his gift for the telling detail of a gesture, pose or movement is allowed full rein. In Going Home, Lowry has been able to capture great movement in the figures with a few simple pencil strokes. It is easy to see why this drawing appealed to Carr. The next owner of this drawing was the prominent British artist Prunella Clough (1919-1999). It is not known if he gave her the drawing or if she bought it off him.