Painting that Lowry loved goes under the hammer
LS Lowry adored it. It sat for a decade on his mantelpiece.
It is a picture which captured a slice of Salford 1960s life... a dog fight. The oil painting was by Lowry’s friend, Harold Riley.
Now it is to go up for auction at Christie’s in London with an estimated price of £3,000 to £5,000. But the link to Lowry is likely to push up the price.
Mr Riley, now a world famous artist, told the M.E.N.: “One afternoon I was walking with Lowry near the old Albion dog track in Salford, where greyhounds raced. It was near the Manchester Racecourse at Castle Irwell.
“On a croft opposite there used to be held dog fights. As we passed there that day a dog fight was going on, watched by a large crowd, and Lowry was very interested in it. We both stood on the other side of the road and watched. Because Lowry had been intrigued by it, I did a painting of it and presented it to him the following Christmas as a gift. It was on his mantelpiece for years. Just before he died in 1976 he gave it me back.”
The painting is one of two by Riley that is going under the hammer.
The other, called The Red House, was painted in 1968.
Mr Riley said: “Lowry and I had gone to Pendlebury. We planned to do a drawing of Acme Mill - the first electrically powered spinning mill in the world. It was featured in a very famous painting by Lowry, from George Street.
“But on the day we went there we discovered it had been demolished. So instead I did a painting of a nearby street, which had a prominent red house.”
Both works will go on sale at Christie’s tomorrow at their Modern British and Irish Art Sale.