“I was interested in portrait painting until I went to live in Pendlebury,” said LS Lowry in a recently unearthed interview.
In the interview, Laurence Stephen Lowry said he came across his distinctive style of painting when his family moved from Manchester to an urban part of Salford when he was younger.
“I was interested in portrait painting until I went to live in Pendlebury,” he said.
“The industrial scene got me. I disliked [painting industrial scenes] at first, then I got used to it.
“I began to think there is something in it… then I began to think there was a lot in it.”
The interview is part of a special collection of recordings of LS Lowry in his later life that have recently been donated to The Lowry at the Salford Quays.
The recordings were conducted by Angela Bogg who spent hours speaking to the artist towards the end of his life in the 1970s.
The then-27-year-old’s recordings were later found by her son Miachel Bogg after her death in 2022.
In the tapes, the artist said he had started to paint his landscapes after World War One.
“I began to wonder if anybody had ever recorded or done it,” he said.
“I found they hadn’t, so I said ‘I’ll try and do if I can and once I’ve done it, I’ll get out and join some friends in business.’
“But I didn’t join my friends in business.
“Times had changed and I got rather not fond of work.”
He added that from there, he “got used to it and then I got to like it, then I got fascinated and then I began trying to put it on the map if I could.”
When Angela asked if he’d ever rebelled against his parents as a young man, the artist said he never did as he was a “homebird” all the time. Lowry also added that the thought of leaving home “never entered (his) head.”
The artist further spoke about the lack of a romance in his life.
“I never had a girl. I never was in love,” he said.
“I knew a lot of people and drifted along and drifted along until I’ve drifted to now and you’re talking to me.
“I’ve been a drifter, you see.”
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