Cumbrian auction sells iconic L.S. Lowry artwork for more than £100,000

  • ITV Border reporter Fiona Marley Paterson visited the auction to hear more about the origins L.S. Lowry's Cumbrian artwork before they went on sale.

An auction in Cumbria has sold a variety of iconic artworks by L.S. Lowry, with prices under the hammer totalling up to more than £100,000.

The artist, born in 1887, is famously known for his extensive portfolio of industrial life in Greater Manchester. However, in L.S. Lowry's regular visits to meet friends in Cumbria such as Sheila Fell, he also produced pieces detailing local areas Maryport and Ulverston.

Eight pieces of L.S. Lowry's art collection went on sale at Mitchells Antiques and Fine Arts in Cockermouth on 28 November 2024. Seven out of the eight artworks sold under the hammer, amounting up to £117,200.

The items sold:

  • An oil painting believed to be a landscape of Ulverston sold for £43,000.

  • A pencil drawing of a street sold for £25,000.

  • A pencil drawing of St Mary's Street in Oldham sold for £4,800.

  • A pencil drawing of a head and shoulders portrait sold for £3,000.

  • An early pencil drawing of a landscape sold for £3,400.

  • A pen and pencil drawing of a man wearing a hat with a pond yacht sold for £1,000.

  • A pencil drawing on paper of Maryport sold for £37,000.

James Moore, from Mitchells Antiques and Fine Arts in Cockermouth - who has worked at the business for 27 years - says it is "mind-blowing" to have L.S. Lowry work to auction.

He said: "It's certainly a career-high at the moment. So it's a real cross-section of Lowry's work, the art has generated a lot of interest."

The artworks sold for £117,200. Credit: ITV Border.

Speaking about the Lancashire-born artist's well-known connection to Cumbria, James added: "Well, he was friends with Sheila Fell. Lowry also worked in banks in Manchester, and one of his friends that he worked with down there was the Reverend Geoffrey Bennett.

"He ended up working in banks in West Cumbria, then also ordained to be a vicar and ended up working at Rockcliffe Church at Carlisle.

"So I think it's because of their friendship that Lowry spent a lot of time in west Cumbria looking at all the interesting, different places that were there. So pictures of Cumbria come on to the market fairly regularly."

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