A Lonely Man Who Crowded A Lifetime Into The Areas Of Industrial Lancashire

A pot of honey was the fee Lowry received for the last couple of his many works. They were given to a friend of many years, John Morris, for whom Lowry had previously drawn several sketches in exchange for a few bars of chocolate. The Lancashire artist's final drawings were two sketches , quickly drawn on the rear of a bow-tie packet with a japanese felt tip pen. One is of a Salford street scene, The other is a drawing of Mr Morris's pet Labrador, Rex. It is inscribed 'To Rex, with best wishes'

Mr Morris of Heaton Road, Stockport, said "All he wanted for the sketches was the jar of honey, which I had brought for him anyway. He was very partial to honey and bars of chocolate too, which I used to pop through his letter box to say Hello. It was a bit of humour between us. He drew several sketches for me, which I gave to charity, and all for a few bars of chocolate. He was very kind, with a enormous sense of humour, but very lonely.

When Lowry died the population of the world was three and a half thousand million. The chances therefore of achieving worldwide recognition were miniscule, yet, here was a painter, whose work had become instantly recognisable , viewed anywhere from New York to Sydney. At the age of eighty eight, Lowry died from pneumonia. Many people regard him as a genius , yet it brought him little peace of mind. He was tall in stature and lived alone, withdrawn, without many material possessions, and for a long time he had tended to complain about his lack of privacy. He had many people coming to see him. but when he had enough of their company, he would yawn. A type of yawn that was an unmistakable signal; that he wished to be alone.

Lowry was fascinated by the industry and the men, women and children around him, and never understood why they had not been captured on canvas before. So he decided to put matters right. He managed to achieve this, but it was painful on the way. During this period Lowry was selling one painting a year for around thirty pounds. He often gave an air of seriousness, but inside there was a strange sense of humour. He would tell young artists, "Stop before it is too late." To others he would say, "I am unbelievablyincorrigibly lazy, maybe that is why I have been so industrious all my days." Or, "Look at that graveyard, nobody there is complaining." Or, "A married man lives like a dog and dies like a king; a batchelor lives like a king and dies like a dog." He stopped with his artistic career more often than his contemporaries started, there are many references to 'Last Interviews'. He always thought of 1918-1930 as his best time because he was 'fresh to it'. When a customer once said "Mr Lowry, you haven't put a date on this one." He replied without a smile, "Oh, haven't I? Which date would you prefer, 1929 was an excellent year."

Once he said, "I guess if I had my life again I would be an artist, but I don't think much of it as a job. You get fed up of painting pictures, It's a job like anything else."