Jade's Music Blog

Maconie has provided a flavour of the themes he will talk about, describing how LS Lowry painted a Manchester that could no longer exist. However, rather than bathing it in the warm glow of fond nostalgia, the Manchester he depicted was far from heartwarming. Maconie observes how Lowry’s paintings are the work of a man ingrained in the harsh realities of a city at the end of the revolution that transformed it with a sudden influx of industry and wealth. Stuart Maconie appreciates how LS Lowry knew the impact that this had on the ordinary people of the north.

Maconie will comment on Lowry’s rich and brutal cultural legacy and how he painted the Manchester of The Smiths and of early Coronation Street. He captured the landscape that shaped other famous sons and daughters of Salford and the north. These include Albert Finney in black and white, Shelagh Delaney, John Cooper Clarke and Mark E Smith, Joy Division and Harrison Birtwistle, the harsh beautiful unforgiving Manchester of Hard Times and Dirty Old Town.

Lowry captured a lonely, cold north a far cry from the shiny new cities of cranes and bright lights and Madchester. Stuart will take the common perception of the bluff, friendly, flat capped northerner and show how Lowry's work undermines it and offers complexity and bleakness, lyricism and stark intelligence, run through with a sharp and articulate sense of humour.

With his recent best-selling book, Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North, taking a wry look at the modern reality of the North of England, this is the perfect time to hear Stuart’s views on our Northern icon.

Now an annual event in The Lowry’s calendar, the LS Lowry Lecture is delivered by a critical commentator or artist working in any discipline. The invited speaker can talk about the artist’s work from their own perspective, exploring any aspect of Lowry’s work that particularly fascinates them.

Listing Information
Stuart Maconie delivers the LS Lowry lecture 2008
Sun 3 February, 8pm
Tickets £5
Box Office 0870 787 5793 www.thelowry.com