Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A. (1887-1976)

A Cotswold Book, written by Lowry’s friend Harold Timperley and published by Jonathan Cape in 1931, was illustrated with topographical sketches by Lowry. The highly descriptive passages, vividly recounting experiences of the Cotswold countryside, are punctuated wonderfully with a selection of twelve drawings, including Brockhampton (lot 154) and Near Belas Knap (the present lot). These were reproduced in photogravure though more drawings from this series exist which were not used by the author.

In The Drawings of L.S. Lowry, Mervyn Levy wrote: ‘In the series of twelve drawings that he made as illustrations for H.W. Timperley’s ‘A Cotswold Book’, Lowry […] used rather more half-tones than normal, and the overall effect is one of a velvety richness comparable in its opacity with oil paint. No painting could offer a richer appearance than some of the Cotswold drawings’ (M. Levy, The Drawings of L.S. Lowry, London, 1976, p. 23).

For Lowry, this was his only ever book commission, thus reinforcing the significance of the drawings produced for this book.