Level Crossing With Train

Laurence Stephen Lowry, R.A. (1887-1976)
Level Crossing with Train, 1973
Offset lithograph on wove paper, after the original oil painting from 1946 of the same title (Collection: City of Salford Gallery)
Signed ‘L.S. Lowry’ lower right in pencil, from the unnumbered edition of 750
Published by Patrick Seale Prints
Size: 18 x 22 in. (46 x 56 cm.)

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A distinct location of interest, Lowry returned to the subject-matter of the level crossing on several occasions through-out his career, most notably when he produced several paintings and drawings after visiting Burton-on-Trent and seeing the level crossing there. Renowned as one of the most significant brewing towns in the UK, Burton-on-Trent was famous for having its own internal railway system solely to serve the breweries. This work, however, may be based on locations in Trafford where a network of railway lines existed to move goods around. 
Lowry based the train engine depicted in the present work on a model given by Frank and Mary Fletcher to their son, Phillip, a fact he recalled in conversation with his biographer Shelley Rohde. Lowry had a particular affinity for playing with trains, which the Fletchers were all too familiar with. Whenever he visited, Lowry insisted upon invading Phillip’s bedroom to play with the models, an act that Mary initially found perplexing but always forgave. According to Phillip Fletcher, Lowry would suddenly change the points a critical moment causing an awful pile-up.
Although the train was inspired by a toy of Phillip Fletcher’s, Level Crossing with Train was originally painted as a gift for the Maitland children, another family he visited, who were based in Burton-on-Trent. Particularly following his mother’s death in 1939, with whom he had a close but complicated relationship, Lowry was frequently invited to see friends who assumed that he must be lonely living by himself. Yet, whilst Lowry did visit, he admitted that he was often content in his own company, turning to art as a therapy to ease his grief. Indeed, he even said that he may never have made the paintings if his mother had died: ‘It was the only thing I had to do... If things had been natural as they were years ago I wouldn’t have done the paintings. My mother’s death did it. I feel it still... I miss her yet”  
Depicted centrally in the composition, there is a child-like joy in Lowry’s portrayal of the single train engine. Two small dogs, a highly coveted motif amongst collectors, watch on as a conductor waves a flag, warning pedestrians of the train. Known for his portrayals of urban life in Northern England, Level Crossing with Train incorporates the rather unique imagery of the train with the distinctive facets of his visual language – the smoking chimney stacks and ecclesiastical towers – in a style that is very much his own.