A lorra, lorra Lowry!
Cilla’s sons to sell her beloved paintings for up to £1million
THEY took pride of place in her home as a constant reminder of her Northern roots.
Now three of Cilla Black’s beloved LS Lowry paintings are to be auctioned in a sale expected to generate almost £1million.
Encouraged to buy art by her first manager Brian Epstein, the late singer acquired works throughout her five decades in showbusiness and her three sons have now decided to sell several of them.
The earliest of the Salford artist’s oils is Family Group (1938), which is said to evoke the ‘kitchen sink’ dramas of the North, a subject that resonated with Miss Black and her husband Bobby as they both grew up in Liverpool.
The second, The Spire (1949), depicts a row of terraced workers’ houses with a group of figures in the street.
The third, The Black Church (1964), was bought as a surprise 50th birthday gift for the Blind Date host by her husband and was displayed in their sitting room. The ‘Black’ in the title had additional significance.
Cilla’s sons Robert, Ben and Jack said they believed their mother would have loved the idea that people outside her immediate circle might enjoy the paintings, which will be auctioned by Sotheby’s on June 13.
They said yesterday: ‘Mum and Dad bought art that they loved and that they could relate to, and since LS Lowry painted the world that our mother grew up in, there was very much a personal connection to each of these particular paintings.
‘Mum wanted to feel a connection to the works on a personal level and Lowry was an artist they were drawn to.
‘Each of the Lowry paintings they bought depict day-today scenes and family life, and Mum and Dad lived with them accordingly, hanging them in our family home in pride of place in the living room where we spent the most time together.’
Miss Black died in August aged 72 after a fall at her Spanish holiday home in Marbella. She had been a widow since October 1999.