The Mid-Day Studios

Laurence Stephen Lowry 1887 - 1976

Summary

The painting is a small sketch of the Mid-Day Studios.This was a privately-run gallery located in a basement opposite Manchester Art Gallery on Mosley Street which made a considerable difference to local artists and to the cultural life of Manchester for 5 years after the Second World War, the gallery eventually closed in 1951. Lowry had his first one-man show in Manchester there in 1948. The owner of the Gallery was Margo Ingham. The painting presents local people viewing the artworks in the gallery, there are various chairs littering the space and a dog in the foreground to the left.

Display Label

Laurence Stephen Lowry (1887-1976) The Mid-Day Studios 1952 Oil on board Lowry was very little known in the 1930s and 1940s. His first London exhibition was in 1939 and his first Manchester exhibition not until 1948 at the Mid-Day Studios, a private gallery founded by art teacher, Margo Ingham and Ned Owens. This solo exhibition was the true start of Lowry’s fame in the North West. The Mid-Day Studios were located in a basement opposite Manchester Art Gallery on Mosley Street. It supported painters who became known as the Manchester Group. This small painting was made the year after the Mid-Day Studios closed and was presented by Lowry to gallery founder, Ned Owens. Purchased with assistance from the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, The Art fund and the Livingstone and Bloom Charitable Trusts 2005.2