Lowry/Riley Collaboration in the Modern & Contemporary Art Sale

A collaborative painting by two great Northern Artists, L. S. Lowry and Harold Riley will be coming under the hammer in Tennants Auctioneers’ Modern and Contemporary Art Sale on 7^th October. Crowther Street, Stockport will be offered with an estimate of £15,000-20,000 (all figures exclude buyer’s premium) and is signed by both artists. The pair met in 1945 when Lowry presented Riley with a prize at the Salford Grammar School art exhibition. Forming a deep friendship, Riley and Lowry collaborated on numerous works. Crowther Street, Stockport was given to the vendor’s father by Harold Riley, and it depicts the distinctive steeply stepped street in Stockport that was a favourite subject of Lowry’s. Indeed, Tennants sold a pencil drawing of the street by Lowry in March 2023 for £70,000.

A further drawing by L. S. Lowry, Figures on a Street, will be offered with an estimate of £8,000-12,000. Executed in biro in 1971, it was gifted by the artist to Mr Donald Earnshaw whilst on a social visit to Newland House, Seaham, and was then passed down within Mr Earnshaw’s family.

In a strong sale for Northern Art comes a good selection of works by Brian ‘Braaq’ Shields, led by Figures in a frozen landscape before an industrial town on offer with an estimate of £10,000-15,000. Also of note are The White Horse, Kilburn, Yorks, After the Rain by Richard Ernst Eurich (estimate: £4,000-6,000), Loch Broom, a rare oil painting by Norman Ackroyd who is best known for his etchings (estimate: £1,000-2,000), and a lively depiction of Richmond marketplace, North Yorkshire by Fred Cecil Jones (estimate: £500-700).

A number of prints by Bob Dylan are also on offer in the sale, most notably a complete portfolio of his The Beaten Path series, which comprises 10 giclee prints of classic American urban and rural landscapes and provides snapshots of Dylan’s extensive travels across the country. Offered with an estimate of £8,000-12,000, the portfolio includes works such as Brooklyn Heights, Vine Street, West L.A. and Florida County. Also on offer is his portfolio Mondo Scripto, which offers 10 lithographs of Dylan’s most famous songs, each set of lyrics accompanied and illustrated by a sketch (estimate: £7,000-10,000).

Notable three-dimensional works in the sale include a glazed earthenware pitcher in the form of a dove, made in 1959 by Pablo Picasso (estimate: £1,500-2,000), and Rising Spirit, a bronze by Italian artist Marzia Colonna. There is also a good selection of Modern British prints by the likes of Elizabeth Blackadder, John Nash, Paul Nash, Edward Bawden, Dame Laura Knight and William Scott. Further highlights include Dark Sky Iona by Donald McIntyre (estimate: £2,000-3,000), and Figures on a Beach by Ken Howard (estimate: £700-1,000).

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