L.S. Lowry

British, 1887-1976. Born in 1887, Lawrence Stephen Lowry spent more than four decades of his life as a full-time rent collector before becoming one of the most celebrated Modernist painters of Britain. Rumored to have been self-taught, he veritably was trained under French Impressionist, Adolphe Valette. His work predominantly illustrated modern life in an urban landscape with just five colors and miniature, stick-like figures to characterize people. He played an elemental role in bringing the industrial landscapes of Salford, Manchester, and other locations in the East Midlands region into the limelight. Also, an underrated portraitist, Lowry’s representation of his subjects in his rather gloomy portraits was said to be an influence of his father’s death and his mother’s long term illness.