Bury Lowry

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About Bury Lowry

Bury Lowry is a flickr group set up to protest against the sale by Bury, an English council of its L.S. Lowry painting, A Riverbank, 1947. The painting depicts the River Irwell and Lancashire industry in its heyday.
Mr. Lowry was for a time president of the Bury Art Society. We seek to defend the principle of public art.


L. S. Lowry, A Riverbank, 1947, Bury Museum and Art Gallery. Image source: BBC Manchester

L. S. Lowry became Britain's most loved twentieth century artist after his death. A Riverbank is one of Lowry's most significant industrial landscapes, depicting industry along the River Irwell, a watercourse that drove the Industrial Revolution, which runs through Bury, Salford and Manchester.

Add your voice to our Petition!

THE BURY LOWRY CONTROVERSY

In order to finance a budget deficit, Bury Metropolitan Borough Council have put the painting A Riverbank up for auction at Christies on 17 November 2006 with a reserve price of £500,000 and an estimated value of £800,000.

The Museums Council has urged the council to reconsider its decision, and if the sale goes ahead the town will be expelled and denied any future arts funding.

Mr. Lowry has unfortunately become the subject of controversy, with protests from those who remember him in Bury and expressions of disbelief from as far afield as Austria and the U.S. of A. Not only has Bury lost much of its industrial heart, but now its art and social heritage are to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Add your voice to this protest that asks Bury Council to reconsider its decision.

There is little time to change the council's mind. The auction for this work is set for November 17th at Christies and our attempts to prevent this action need support. Please also contact the council directly to express your views.

WA Campbell,
Council Leader,
Bury MBC, Town Hall,
Knowsley Street, BURY BL9 0SW
Lancashire

You can also email a local representative
Email a councillor
or if outside the town email the council leader @
W.A.Campbell@bury.gov.uk

A Riverbank has been taken down in Bury, pending the sale.

Since its purchase in 1951, it has hung beside Calais Sands by J.M.W. Turner and Hampstead Heath by John Constable, neither of which artists were active in the town.

Bury Lowry?



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<a href="http://flickr.com/groups/burylowry/">Bury Lowry</a>

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Bury Lowry is sister to the Economic and Social History Group - People and their Industry.