In my studeerkamer hang ’n afdruk van ’n kenmerkende skildery van L(aurence) S(tephen) Lowry (1887-1976). In die voorgrond is daar sub-ekonomiese troshuise, in die middelgrond ’n speelpark met baie mense, kinderwaentjies en honde, terwyl die agtergrond reekse werkersklashuise aan ’n rivier met vragbote en hyskrane toon, wat verdwerg word deur groot fabrieke met rokende skoorstene teen ’n grys-geel lug. Al die kleure is gedemp. Dit is ’n uitbeelding van ’n industriële gebied in die noordweste van Engeland.
Lowry het sy lewe lank in die weste van Manchester gewoon en gewerk. Hy was die enigste kind van sy pa, ’n klerk, wat ’n gedissiplineerde lewe gelei het. Sy ma, ’n pianis, "acquired the habit of becoming ill whenever circumstances did not please her" (Michael Leber & Judith Sandling, LS Lowry, Phaidon Press, 1987/1994, p 12). Met min rede het sy gedink dat sy beter as haar omstandighede verdien. Toe hulle weens finansiële druk na ’n armer woonbuurt verhuis het, kon sy dit nie verwerk nie.
In 1932 is Lowry se pa dood, terwyl sy ma, nadat sy die laaste ses jaar van haar lewe in die bed deurgebring het, in 1939 oorlede is. "She would only find solace in the nursing provided by her son" (p 28). Lowry het sy ma verafgod, hoewel nie een van sy ouers waardering vir sy skilderye gehad het nie. Sy pa het gesê: "I can't see you selling anything" (p 119). Van sy ma het Lowry gesê: "She did not understand my painting, but she understood me and that was enough" (p 12, 121).
Die Lowrys het aanvanklik in die goeie woonbuurt Stretford gebly, maar van 1909 af in Pendlebury. "I did not enjoy being a child. I was not interested" (p 12). Al waaruit hy plesier geput het, was om te teken, bv die see en bote wat hy tydens hulle vakansies gesien het. Van Pendlebury word gesê: "This rather undistinguished industrial suburb ... created his vision" (p 16). "At first I didn't like it at all. It look me six years. Then I got used to it; after that, interested. I wanted to depict it ... Finally I became obsessed by it ... I was doing the industrial scene as I saw it" (p 68). "I knew what I had to paint" (p 17). "My subjects were all around me ... All my material was on my doorstep" (p 127).
In 1904 het hy ’n klerk by rekenmeesters geword en privaat kunsonderrig ontvang. Die volgende jaar het hy met aandklasse in skilderkuns begin, eers by die Manchester College of Art en van 1915 tot in 1928 by die Salford School of Art. "I went in for art as I was fit for nothing else" (p 65). Van sy dosente het hy gesê: "A teacher doesn't have to be distinguished" (p 116). "Eventually they did suggest I leave; so I did, and they tried not to look happy" (p 65). Lowry se lang vakleerlingskap herinner aan dié van die komponis Anton Bruckner (1824-1896), wat ook weens beperkte selfvertroue klasse bygewoon en sertifikate versamel het tot lank nadat sy dosente eerder by hom kon leer.
Van 1910 tot sy aftrede in 1952 het Lowry as ’n klerk en huurinvorderaar by dieselfde eiendomsagentskap gewerk. Dit het ingesluit "calling on tenants in the meaner districts of Manchester" (p 17). "I seem to have a strong leaning towards decayed houses in deteriorated areas" (p 111). "I'm attracted to decay, I suppose; in a way to ugliness, too. A derelict house gets me" (p 69). "If I was asked my chief recreation, I ought to say walking about the streets of any poor quarter" (p 17). "The recreation came in mentally cataloguing people, places and events which could be later compiled on canvas ... the artist walked regularly through the farmlands and countryside which surrounded Pendlebury" (p 17).
In 1948 het Lowry uit sy oorlede ouers se huis getrek na "’n rather ugly stone-built house" (p 37) in Cheshire, suidwes van Manchester. "It's a dreadful place. I can't think why I stay here" (p 77). Tuis was Lowry omring nie net deur sy eie skilderye nie, maar ook deur sy ma se versameling porseleinware en horlosies. "They all keep different times, but you get used to it. You have to be thankful they go at all at that age" (p 81).
Toe DF Malan in 1948 die eerste minister van Suid-Afrika geword het, het ’n Britse koerant berig: Hy rook nie, hy drink nie, en hy het ’n aangenome dogter. Lowry se onskuld het ’n stappie verder gegaan. "His life-style remained the same – the frugality and abstention from indulgence as seen in the non-smoking, non-drinking, non-womanizing habits of a lifetime" (p 9). In ’n dame wat saam met hom kunsklasse bygewoon het, het hy belang gestel, maar sy het van die toneel verdwyn. In die jare vyftig het hy dikwels ’n misterieuse Ann geskilder. Maar hy het nooit getrou nie en het na die afsterwe van sy ma alleen gewoon. "My temperament made me very unsociable although that was not my wish" (p 13).
Sy ma se dood het veroorsaak dat die lewe vir Lowry betekenisloos geword het. Al het hy later bekendheid as skilder verwerf, het hy daarvan gesê: "It all came too late" (p 9). "My mother died in 1939, and I know it sounds ridiculous and sentimental to say so but I've never felt much interest in life since then" (p 76). "He was robbed of the only person to whom he ever felt attached" (p 29). "There was a life to be got through and work to be done. The impulse to paint ... was all that he had" (p 9-12). Hy het nie vreugde nie maar tog ’n mate van tevredenheid ervaar vanweë die sukses wat hy later as skilder behaal het. Teen die einde van sy lewe het Lowry gesê: "I feel pleased that my pictures fetch several thousand pounds at auction. They are all over the world now, and that's good enough for me" (p 80).
Van 1910 af het hy net binnenshuis geskilder. "I never paint in this spot, but look for a long time, make drawings and think" (p 127). "I just do my stuff as best I can in my own house" (p 80). Toe sy ma nog gelewe het, was dit gewoonlik eers laat saans wanneer hy sy uitgebreide sketse en aantekeninge kon gebruik om meesal met olieverf te skilder. In 1966 het Lowry gesê: "Had I not been lonely, none of my work would have happened. I should not have done what I've done, or seen the way I saw things. I work because there's nothing else to do. Painting is a marvellous way of passing the time, and very interesting when you get into it. Between 1909 and 1939 ... there's really nothing to tell. After about 1909, when we moved house, I lost sight of everybody. I had no close friends at all ... I usually prefer to be by myself" (p 76).
"He was a plain eater with simple gastronomic tastes" (p 121). In Cheshire het hy tuis graag na klassieke musiek geluister, soos dié van Vivaldi, Haydn en veral Bellini. Hy het ook skilderye van Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) aangeskaf. "He's the one man whose work I have ever wanted to possess ... I've about twelve. I have always been fascinated by certain types of women he painted. I'm a Victorian all right, you know" (p 80). "I'm a very lonely man. But I like to be lonely. I can go where I please. I don't have to worry about anybody" (p 81).
Na sy aftrede het hy baie in Engeland gereis maar nooit oorsee gegaan nie. Hy het ook die myngebied in die suide van Wallis verken en geskilder. "I'd done what I'd set out to do. I had proved my point – that there was subject-matter for a painter in the industrial scene" (p 77). In sy laaste jare het hy meesal met sketse volstaan en selde landskappe geskilder. Hy het toe verkies om eerder mense uit te beeld en heel aan die einde "half-animal and half-ghost figures. 'They just come when I put pencil to paper'" (p 139).
Lowry het daarvan gehou om die eienaardiges en uitgeworpenes te skets. "They are real people, sad people; something's gone wrong in their lives. I'm attracted to sadness ... There is mystery about them" (p 81). “I cannot make people look cheerful” (p 20, 118). Van ’n jong man wat hy in ’n park in Manchester gesien en daarna na sy verbeelding geskilder het, het Lowry gesê: "He gave me the impression that something had very badly gone wrong in his life ... He was totally disinterested in anything at all and yet he was, to me, most interesting" (p 109). "I am particularly interested in down-and-outs, and misfits ... In fact I'm interested in all curious people, but especially in the sordidness of down-and-outs. I am not really interested in the human story behind these characters, only in what they have become, and in how their defeat and poverty have helped to isolate them, to set them apart, and give them the curious, often comical, look that interests me" (p 135).
’n Mens kan alleen wees sonder om eensaam te voel. ’n Mens kan ook eensaam voel al is jy nie alleen nie. Lowry was na die dood van sy ma beide eensaam en alleen. Hy het hom in sy skeppende werk verdiep en skilderye nagelaat wat moontlik eeue na sy dood steeds getuies sal wees dat daar iemand soos LS Lowry was; iemand wat gedoen het wat die moeite werd was.
Johannes Comestor
In my studeerkamer hang ’n afdruk van ’n kenmerkende skildery van L(aurence) S(tephen) Lowry (1887-1976). In die voorgrond is daar sub-ekonomiese troshuise, in die middelgrond ’n speelpark met baie mense, kinderwaentjies en honde, terwyl die agtergrond reekse werkersklashuise aan ’n rivier met vragbote en hyskrane toon, wat verdwerg word deur groot fabrieke met rokende skoorstene teen ’n grys-geel lug. Al die kleure is gedemp. Dit is ’n uitbeelding van ’n industriële gebied in die noordweste van Engeland.
Lowry het sy lewe lank in die weste van Manchester gewoon en gewerk. Hy was die enigste kind van sy pa, ’n klerk, wat ’n gedissiplineerde lewe gelei het. Sy ma, ’n pianis, "acquired the habit of becoming ill whenever circumstances did not please her" (Michael Leber & Judith Sandling, LS Lowry, Phaidon Press, 1987/1994, p 12). Met min rede het sy gedink dat sy beter as haar omstandighede verdien. Toe hulle weens finansiële druk na ’n armer woonbuurt verhuis het, kon sy dit nie verwerk nie.
In 1932 is Lowry se pa dood, terwyl sy ma, nadat sy die laaste ses jaar van haar lewe in die bed deurgebring het, in 1939 oorlede is. "She would only find solace in the nursing provided by her son" (p 28). Lowry het sy ma verafgod, hoewel nie een van sy ouers waardering vir sy skilderye gehad het nie. Sy pa het gesê: "I can't see you selling anything" (p 119). Van sy ma het Lowry gesê: "She did not understand my painting, but she understood me and that was enough" (p 12, 121).
Die Lowrys het aanvanklik in die goeie woonbuurt Stretford gebly, maar van 1909 af in Pendlebury. "I did not enjoy being a child. I was not interested" (p 12). Al waaruit hy plesier geput het, was om te teken, bv die see en bote wat hy tydens hulle vakansies gesien het. Van Pendlebury word gesê: "This rather undistinguished industrial suburb ... created his vision" (p 16). "At first I didn't like it at all. It look me six years. Then I got used to it; after that, interested. I wanted to depict it ... Finally I became obsessed by it ... I was doing the industrial scene as I saw it" (p 68). "I knew what I had to paint" (p 17). "My subjects were all around me ... All my material was on my doorstep" (p 127).
In 1904 het hy ’n klerk by rekenmeesters geword en privaat kunsonderrig ontvang. Die volgende jaar het hy met aandklasse in skilderkuns begin, eers by die Manchester College of Art en van 1915 tot in 1928 by die Salford School of Art. "I went in for art as I was fit for nothing else" (p 65). Van sy dosente het hy gesê: "A teacher doesn't have to be distinguished" (p 116). "Eventually they did suggest I leave; so I did, and they tried not to look happy" (p 65). Lowry se lang vakleerlingskap herinner aan dié van die komponis Anton Bruckner (1824-1896), wat ook weens beperkte selfvertroue klasse bygewoon en sertifikate versamel het tot lank nadat sy dosente eerder by hom kon leer.
Van 1910 tot sy aftrede in 1952 het Lowry as ’n klerk en huurinvorderaar by dieselfde eiendomsagentskap gewerk. Dit het ingesluit "calling on tenants in the meaner districts of Manchester" (p 17). "I seem to have a strong leaning towards decayed houses in deteriorated areas" (p 111). "I'm attracted to decay, I suppose; in a way to ugliness, too. A derelict house gets me" (p 69). "If I was asked my chief recreation, I ought to say walking about the streets of any poor quarter" (p 17). "The recreation came in mentally cataloguing people, places and events which could be later compiled on canvas ... the artist walked regularly through the farmlands and countryside which surrounded Pendlebury" (p 17).
In 1948 het Lowry uit sy oorlede ouers se huis getrek na "’n rather ugly stone-built house" (p 37) in Cheshire, suidwes van Manchester. "It's a dreadful place. I can't think why I stay here" (p 77). Tuis was Lowry omring nie net deur sy eie skilderye nie, maar ook deur sy ma se versameling porseleinware en horlosies. "They all keep different times, but you get used to it. You have to be thankful they go at all at that age" (p 81).
Toe DF Malan in 1948 die eerste minister van Suid-Afrika geword het, het ’n Britse koerant berig: Hy rook nie, hy drink nie, en hy het ’n aangenome dogter. Lowry se onskuld het ’n stappie verder gegaan. "His life-style remained the same – the frugality and abstention from indulgence as seen in the non-smoking, non-drinking, non-womanizing habits of a lifetime" (p 9). In ’n dame wat saam met hom kunsklasse bygewoon het, het hy belang gestel, maar sy het van die toneel verdwyn. In die jare vyftig het hy dikwels ’n misterieuse Ann geskilder. Maar hy het nooit getrou nie en het na die afsterwe van sy ma alleen gewoon. "My temperament made me very unsociable although that was not my wish" (p 13).
Sy ma se dood het veroorsaak dat die lewe vir Lowry betekenisloos geword het. Al het hy later bekendheid as skilder verwerf, het hy daarvan gesê: "It all came too late" (p 9). "My mother died in 1939, and I know it sounds ridiculous and sentimental to say so but I've never felt much interest in life since then" (p 76). "He was robbed of the only person to whom he ever felt attached" (p 29). "There was a life to be got through and work to be done. The impulse to paint ... was all that he had" (p 9-12). Hy het nie vreugde nie maar tog ’n mate van tevredenheid ervaar vanweë die sukses wat hy later as skilder behaal het. Teen die einde van sy lewe het Lowry gesê: "I feel pleased that my pictures fetch several thousand pounds at auction. They are all over the world now, and that's good enough for me" (p 80).
Van 1910 af het hy net binnenshuis geskilder. "I never paint in this spot, but look for a long time, make drawings and think" (p 127). "I just do my stuff as best I can in my own house" (p 80). Toe sy ma nog gelewe het, was dit gewoonlik eers laat saans wanneer hy sy uitgebreide sketse en aantekeninge kon gebruik om meesal met olieverf te skilder. In 1966 het Lowry gesê: "Had I not been lonely, none of my work would have happened. I should not have done what I've done, or seen the way I saw things. I work because there's nothing else to do. Painting is a marvellous way of passing the time, and very interesting when you get into it. Between 1909 and 1939 ... there's really nothing to tell. After about 1909, when we moved house, I lost sight of everybody. I had no close friends at all ... I usually prefer to be by myself" (p 76).
"He was a plain eater with simple gastronomic tastes" (p 121). In Cheshire het hy tuis graag na klassieke musiek geluister, soos dié van Vivaldi, Haydn en veral Bellini. Hy het ook skilderye van Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) aangeskaf. "He's the one man whose work I have ever wanted to possess ... I've about twelve. I have always been fascinated by certain types of women he painted. I'm a Victorian all right, you know" (p 80). "I'm a very lonely man. But I like to be lonely. I can go where I please. I don't have to worry about anybody" (p 81).
Na sy aftrede het hy baie in Engeland gereis maar nooit oorsee gegaan nie. Hy het ook die myngebied in die suide van Wallis verken en geskilder. "I'd done what I'd set out to do. I had proved my point – that there was subject-matter for a painter in the industrial scene" (p 77). In sy laaste jare het hy meesal met sketse volstaan en selde landskappe geskilder. Hy het toe verkies om eerder mense uit te beeld en heel aan die einde "half-animal and half-ghost figures. 'They just come when I put pencil to paper'" (p 139).
Lowry het daarvan gehou om die eienaardiges en uitgeworpenes te skets. "They are real people, sad people; something's gone wrong in their lives. I'm attracted to sadness ... There is mystery about them" (p 81). “I cannot make people look cheerful” (p 20, 118). Van ’n jong man wat hy in ’n park in Manchester gesien en daarna na sy verbeelding geskilder het, het Lowry gesê: "He gave me the impression that something had very badly gone wrong in his life ... He was totally disinterested in anything at all and yet he was, to me, most interesting" (p 109). "I am particularly interested in down-and-outs, and misfits ... In fact I'm interested in all curious people, but especially in the sordidness of down-and-outs. I am not really interested in the human story behind these characters, only in what they have become, and in how their defeat and poverty have helped to isolate them, to set them apart, and give them the curious, often comical, look that interests me" (p 135).
’n Mens kan alleen wees sonder om eensaam te voel. ’n Mens kan ook eensaam voel al is jy nie alleen nie. Lowry was na die dood van sy ma beide eensaam en alleen. Hy het hom in sy skeppende werk verdiep en skilderye nagelaat wat moontlik eeue na sy dood steeds getuies sal wees dat daar iemand soos LS Lowry was; iemand wat gedoen het wat die moeite werd was.
Johannes Comestor
