LS Lowry believed his paintings would be worthless, interviews reveal

LS Lowry believed his paintings would be worthless, interviews reveal Exclusive: Sir Ian McKellen portrays artist in BBC documentary that draws on trove of previously unheard recordings LS Lowry was convinced his paintings would be worthless after his death, he confided in a previously unheard interview. Although the artist had enjoyed some success in his final years, Lowry could never have imagined he would become one of Britain’s best-loved artists or that his paintings would sell for millions of pounds. Going to the Match, his 1953 painting of crowds of spectators streaming into a football stadium, sold for £7.8m in 2022. Half a century after his death, he is now being portrayed by Sir Ian McKellen in a BBC documentary, LS Lowry: The Unheard Tapes , which draws on a trove of previously unheard audio recordings. Described as “the last words of a great artist” who was an intensely private man, McKellen will lip-sync his dialogue. In the tapes, the artist is heard to say: “Some day, you may be walking down some street and look into a junk shop window. You’ll see a picture upside down, marked cheap, 30 shillings. And it’ll be mine.” From 1972, over a period of four years, Lowry gave his longest, most revealing interview to a young fan, Angela Barratt. She died in 2022 and the tapes remained hidden in her Manchester home. They have never been broadcast until now. Lowry bared his soul to her. He confided that his family and friends had teased him about his paintings. “I made no money,” he said. “People laughed heartily at them … All my friends used to joke about it: ‘How’s the art trade?’; ‘Are you making your fortune out of it?’; ‘Don’t be such a fool, why don’t you give it up?’” Lowry had enrolled at the age of 17 for evening art classes. On selling his first painting, he said: “It was in 1921. And I got the sum of £5 for it. I was 34 … My family got the shock of their lives when I sold it. They couldn’t believe it was possible I could sell anything.” Asked whether h...