A collaborative painting by two great Northern Artists, L. S. Lowry (1887-1976) and Harold Riley (1934-2023) sold for £15,000 (plus buyer’s premium) in Tennants Auctioneers’ Modern and Contemporary Art Sale on 7th October. 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, which is signed by both artists, 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, sold for £10,000. 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.
The White Horse, Kilburn, Yorks, After the Rain, a dream-like depiction of the Hambleton Hills in North Yorkshire by Richard Ernst Eurich (1903-1992) sold for £15,000, triple the mid-estimate. Eurich was born in Bradford, and after studying at Bradford School for Arts and Crafts and the Slade School of Art, he became and Official War Artist. Working across multiple genres from marine paintings to still life subjects, his works are often filled with a mystery and wonder.
In a strong sale over all, good prices were also seen for Modern British Prints, such as Bareback Rider, a circus etching by Dame Laura Knight (1877-1970) that sold for £3,000. Further notable lots included Dark Sky Iona by Donald McIntyre (1923-2009) (sold for £4,200), and a set of limited edition embroidered linen napkins by Tracey Emin (b.1963) that all sold well, the top lot being For You I Love For You I Breath, which sold for £2,200.
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