Laying a Foundation Stone

Laurence Stephen Lowry 1887 - 1976

Summary

City scene depicting the ceremonial laying of a foundation stone for a new school at Clifton. Groups of men and women sit on wooden benches in the foreground watching the ceremony performed by the Lord Mayor in a top hat and chain of office, who stands before a pulley system ready to lift the stone. Strings of bunting are suspended from tall poles above him and to the left the Union Jack flies high. In the background a group of school children stand in ordered rows. The scene amused Lowry greatly as he felt that the attendants looked quite bored.

Display Label

Laying a Foundation Stone 1936 Laurence Stephen Lowry (1887-1976) Oil on canvas At the suggestion of Edward Kent, an artist at Pilkington’s Tile & Pottery Company, Lowry and Kent went to attend a stone-laying ceremony for a new school at Clifton- the site of the pottery works in Swinton & Pendlebury. Kent felt that there would be ‘a picture in it’ for Lowry so on Saturday 9 May 1936 they attended as spectators. Lowry was convulsed with laughter at the scene and had to leave. Kent persuaded him to return and the result from Lowry’s sketches was this comic painting of civic pride in action. Presented by the Royal Manchester Institution 1940.73