LS Lowry

For most of his working life LS Lowry walked the streets of Manchester as a rent collector, all the while turning his acute artistic eye on the scene. Lives lived in the shadow of huge warehouses and factory chimneys were given dignity through his unique vision. He refined his palette to five colours: flake white, vermilion, Prussian blue, ivory black and ochre. From the 1960s, buildings vanish from his paintings as he concentrates on people set against a white ground. Gatherings of old and young; solitary figures and exuberant groups of children are observed with humanity and tenderness.