Sir Ian McKellen brings harmony to Lowry debate
Brian Sewell and Howard Jacobson provided a provocative and entertaining evening last night (Sun 1 Feb) at the South Bank Centre, in the first ever LS Lowry debate. But it was an unlikely audience member, Sir Ian McKellen, who brought harmony to the stage.
During a very successful evening, Brian Sewell and Howard Jacobson had plenty of things to disagree about, but they also reached agreement on some very interesting points. Somewhat unexpectedly, Sewell, a previous critic of Lowry’s work, described Lowry as “a brilliant painter for (his first) 25 years”, although Sewell felt his work seriously declined and was dismissive of what he felt was the uncritical praise for the artist’s work that came from public and commentators alike.
Howard Jacobson spoke eloquently and passionately about Lowry’s work and refuted Sewell’s assertion that Lowry continued to receive unstinting praise for his work. Jacobson also drew back from his position that you had to be a northerner to “really get Lowry’s work” and had some telling observations about how detached Lowry was from the people who populate many of his works.
He argued that Lowry made us look again at the city and made it extraordinarily beautiful. “Look at Lowry’s painting The Lake, it was almost Dickensian with the whole North of England in the background and all that belching smoke. He is a great painter of nothingness as well as the somethingness of life.“
Brian Sewell believes that Howard and other admirers of Lowry’s work are clouded by the momentum of popular praise for his work and don’t see what’s actually in his paintings. Sewell urges people to “look again and see what’s there, don’t look again and see what you believe to be there.”
However, they both agreed that Lowry wasn’t interested in people or a painter of people. Jacobson said the more you look at his work the more you see that all the people on the canvas are trying to get off. Lowry was a painter of what it’s like to be in a place and not to be that person. He’s a wonderful painter of isolation and we don’t recognise that.”
After taking a number of questions from the floor, the last audience question came from ‘Ian from the North’, with a strangely familiar voice. He commented that Lowry sets the stage and demands our attention. “LS Lowry is saying ‘look as I have looked because if you do, you’ll note something about both a crowd of people and the light in Manchester.’ Once you’ve seen a crowd in a Lowry painting, you don’t see a crowd again in the same way. Lowry is a great painter as he makes you look again at the people and places around you.”
Both Brian Sewell and Howard Jacobsen acknowledged that Sir Ian McKellen had good perception and they were grateful for this fresh insight, even admitting they had learned something new from this. The chair, Michael Simpson, The Lowry’s Head of Galleries concluded that Sir McKellan had brought harmony to the stage.
This debate formed part of The Lowry’s visual arts programme of reappraising Lowry as an artist and his contribution to twentieth century British art.
Posted on Monday, 02 February 2009 under Press Galleries Press