Previously unseen photographs of the painter L. S Lowry by one of the world’s most celebrated international photographers – Clive Arrowsmith – have gone on show at The Lowry in Salford, Greater Manchester, providing a uniquely domestic portrait of an artist renowned for guarding his privacy. The exhibition contains an array of unseen images, presented as large-scale Giclée Fine Art Prints produced here at Genesis Imaging.
Arrowsmith’s images originated as a commission for Nova Magazine to record Salford in 1966, which he began at the home of LS Lowry. Quickly gaining Lowry’s trust, he was able to photograph the artist at home, in his garden and on nearby streets.
When the shoot was finished, Nova Magazine chose the pictures they wanted and, due to Arrowsmith’s subsequent career in fashion photography, the others were long forgotten. Their chance discovery in 2016 revealed a unique insight into a highly guarded artist, but also Arrowsmith’s perhaps youthful exuberance that resulted in him taking as many photographs as possible, so that by the end of the two days the range of images was considerable.
The exhibition opening was attended by Elizabeth Chapman, who features within one of Arrowsmith’s photographs when she popped to the shops 50 years ago and unknowingly posed for a picture with world famous artist L. S. Lowry. Shown in one of our images (standing in red), she was reunited with her photograph 50 years later.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the publication ‘Lowry At Home Salford 1966, Unseen Photographs by Clive Arrowsmith’ is available for purchase, published by ACC Art Books. With a foreword by Dr Michael Pritchard, Chief Executive of the Royal Photographic Society, the book presents a treasure-trove of images through 80 pages.
Lowry at Home: Salford 1966
10 June – 24 September 2017