Rare oil painting to go under hammer (From The Northern Echo)

Rare oil painting to go under hammer

6:04pm Thursday 16th February 2012 in Tyne and Wear News

A RARE oil painting of South Shields by LS Lowry is expected to be sold for £350,000 when it comes back onto the market.

Oil painting, The Ferry, produced by Lowry in 1967, is a piece of North-East heritage and is up for sale at Clark Art gallery in Cheshire.

LS Lowry is famous for his industrial landscapes and mill scenes but the region became a second home to him following a visit to Sunderland in 1960.

The 20x24 inch oil painting was painted by Lowry when he was 80.

It was previously owned by his friend of 50 years, Reverend Geoffrey Bennett, also an artist.

Lowry was fascinated by the sea and spent much time at the port of the mouth of the River Tyne.

One of the artist's favourite vantage points was the car park between the South Pier and Groyne at South Shields where he would watch the ships coming in.

Bill Clark, owner of Clark Art Gallery, exhibiting the painting, said: “Lowry was entranced by the North-East and particularly by South Shields.

“It has great provenance and was exhibited in a major exhibition at the Lowry Centre in 2005.

“The Ferry is one of the stand-out pieces he produced of the area in the 1960s. “Lowry paintings are in high demand at the moment with a piece fetching a world record last year. There's already been lots of interest in The Ferry - it has a lot of historical importance for the region.”

When The Ferry was produced in 1967, it went on display at Sunderland Art Gallery in an exhibition of his work. It has also been on display at The Lowry gallery in Salford.

The world record for the artist's work is £5,641,250, paid at Christie's last year for The Football Match, a 1949 oil painting.

Lowry was 88 when he died on February 23, 1976 and in his will he left £298,459 which would today barely buy one of his own paintings.