Spotlight on L.S. Lowry
by Crane Kalman Gallery
@ BRITISH ART FAIR 2025
Modern and Contemporary British Art
@ Saatchi Gallery, London
25 - 28 September 2025
Crane Kalman Gallery, a new exhibitor at British Art Fair, reveals personal connections to L.S. Lowry, presenting a series of rare works by one of Britain’s most popular painters for sale.
Sunday Morning, 1938
Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches / 46 x 61 cms
Courtesy of Crane Kalman Gallery
Farm Buildings, Worsley, 1914
Courtesy of Crane Kalman Gallery
Woman Walking, 1965
Oil on canvas, 28 x 22.9 cms / 11 x 9 inches
Courtesy of Crane Kalman Gallery
A Group of Seven, 1965
Courtesy of Crane Kalman Gallery
“In 1949 Andras Kalman opened The Crane Gallery in a basement air-raid shelter in South King Street, Manchester, where the weekly £2 rent was paid by the regular pawning of his typewriter. With persuasion and charm, he managed to obtain for his first exhibition, works by Sir Jacob Epstein, Matthew Smith, Lucien Freud and John Craxton; despite sending invitations to every influential name he could discover, no one came.” Writes Shelley Rodhe in her biography, A Private View of L.S. Lowry (Collins, London 1979). The author takes us to the first meeting between Lowry and Kalman in 1950: “Lowry appeared at the second exhibition, bought a picture and as Kalman recalls ‘it cost him about £20 and I think he bought it only to give my morale a boost’. Visits to the gallery ensued, as did many hours in conversation about artists and the artworld, leading to a lifelong friendship.”
tying a painting by Graham Sutherland to the roof of his Alvis.
That evening, on the trunk road to London, it blew off. After a s
Courtesy of Crane Kalman Gallery
talking to children on their school trip to
Crane Kalman Gallery about Lowry’s work
Courtesy of Crane Kalman Gallery
at the opening of the artists exhibition
A Tribute to L.S. Lowry at Crane Kalman Gallery, London, 1966
Courtesy of Crane Kalman Gallery
Kalman first exhibited L.S. Lowry’s work in 1952 and Crane Kalman has continued to exhibit his work ever since, hosting a 70th anniversary exhibition at their Knightsbridge gallery in 2022.
Laurence Stephen Lowry RBA RA (1887 – 1976) is best known for painting the daily lives of Northern British people, often against the background of the modern industrial city. He also painted timeless seascapes and country landscapes that were often empty and even desolate. Collections that hold Lowry’s work include The Tate, London; The Royal Academy of Arts; London; The Hepworth, Wakefield; The Lowry, Salford; Kettles Yard, The University of Cambridge; National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Setagaya Museum, Tokyo.
Crane Kalman Gallery will be exhibiting seven works by L.S. Lowry for sale at British Art Fair 2025, including examples of his best known city scenes, landscapes, a portrait and a series of his later, more haunting and comic works. The price range is £25,000 to £1million. You will find them on the ground floor at Saatchi Gallery, 25-28 September 2025.
Houses and Fencing, c. 1925
Courtesy of Crane Kalman Gallery
Crowded Street Scene, 1933
Pencil on paper, 6.5 x 8.75 inches / 16 x 22 cm
Courtesy of Crane Kalman Gallery
Portrait of a Man, 1920
Courtesy of Crane Kalman Gallery
Andrew Kalman, son of Andras Kalman and director of Crane Kalman Gallery said: ”To celebrate our debut participation at the British Art Fair, Crane Kalman Gallery is delighted to present a selection of paintings and works on paper by L.S. Lowry. Arguably, no exhibition of Modern British Art would be complete without featuring Lowry, who remains deeply popular with the general public, feted and collected by lovers of 20th-century British art.”
BRITISH ART FAIR 2025 - Modern and Contemporary British Art
Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York HQ, King’s Road, London SW3 4RY
CRANE KALMAN GALLERY
178 Brompton Road, London, SW3 1HQ
