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An example of a
modern Impressionist and Expressionist painter would be Lawrence Isherwood.
He was born about 25 years after Lowry, and started to produce some of his
more well-known work in the 1950’s. What is significant, however, is
that Isherwood came from the same sort of background as Lowry, and from
the same part of the country. Indeed, Isherwood did a number of portraits
of LS Lowry, indicating he must have come into contact with Lowry at least
once during his life.
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Isherwood
liked to paint a variety of different scenes – landscapes,
buildings and seascapes amongst other things. It is possible to make
a link between Lowry and Isherwood in that their styles are quite
similar. Both favoured oil paints, but liked to experiment with
other media also, in Lowry’s case, pastels and pencil sketches,
and in Isherwood’s, watercolour. |
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'Wigan
Pier' - Isherwood |
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m "Painting
drives me mad but I have to do it…it's the only thing I know”.
JL Isherwood, quoted from modernbritishartists.co.uk.
Although
Isherwood painted for the whole of his life, he was met with
relatively little critical acclaim until his later life and after
his death in 1989. Though Lowry had a full time job, he also had his
critics. However, recent times have seen resurgence in popularity of
both artists. |
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Below
are typical industrial scenes by Lowry and Isherwood. On the left is Going
To The Mill by Lowry, and on the right is Sky Images by
Isherwood. Both portray many people milling about, going about their
daily business, with ‘the weight of the world on their shoulders’
(Lowry) against a backdrop of industrial buildings and mills. Like
Lowry, Isherwood has used a limited palette in order to illustrate a
dull and monotonous an atmosphere, and the smoke from the chimney stacks
in the background fills the sky, making it seem as though it is a very
dark day.
However,
the paintings can also point out the differences in styles. The
buildings in Isherwood’s painting have been created using red, with
black outlines. They are more ‘haphazard’ than the buildings in
Lowry’s piece, which are bolt upright and straight, seemingly drawn
with a ruler. Perspective is also different in both pieces. Whereas
Lowry’s buildings seem to fade away the farther into the background
they are, and care has been taken over drawing them and using faded
colours to interpret perspective, the buildings in Isherwood’s
painting seem to be on one plane, though they are not actually meant to
be. It is hard to distinguish what is further in the background. In
other words, Isherwood has not used the same perspective as Lowry.
Lowry’s piece uses a vanishing point which all the buildings
eventually disappear, and Isherwood’s does not. |
