Alan Lowndes

This article is about the painter. For the rugby union, and rugby league player of the 1960s, and 1970s, seeAlan Lowndes (rugby).

Alan Lowndes
Born	Alan Lowndes (1921-02-23)23 February 1921 Heaton Norris,Lancashire,England
Died	22 September 1978 (aged 57) Cam,England

Alan Lowndes(1921–1978) was a British painter known primarily for his scenes of northern life. He also spent time inSt Ives,and he was a close friend of many of theSt Ives Schoolartists.

Lowndes was born inHeaton Norris,Lancashire,a suburb ofStockportin 1921, the fifth child of a railway clerk. He left school at 14, and was apprenticed to a decorator. InWorld War IIhe saw active service in South-west Asia andItaly.After the war he studied painting at night school, but was largely self-taught. He began to achieve success in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the period when northern writers such asStan Barstow,John BraineandAlan Sillitoewere also coming to the fore. He had one man exhibitions in Manchester, London and New York and is represented in many public collections. Although often compared toL. S. Lowry,he is considered byTerry Frostto be a greater painter.Alan Lowndes died inGloucestershirein 1978.

Grayson Perryselected work by Lowndes for his Unpopular Culture exhibition (2008).

In 2021, the centenary of Lowndes’ birth was marked by an exhibition at theCrane Kalman Gallery,London. In reviewing this exhibition David Nowell Smith of theUniversity of East Angliasaid “It’s time for Alan Lowndes to emerge from L.S. Lowry’s shadow”.

See also

• List of St. Ives artists

External links

• 23 artworks by or after Alan Lowndesat theArt UKsite
• Works by Lowndes in the Tate collection
• Website containing press cuttings about Lowndes