LS Lowry painting surpasses £6 million estimate at auction
The big-ticket item had not been publicly exhibited for 57 years.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A painting titled Sunday Afternoon from British artist LS Lowry has sold for almost £6.3 million at auction.
The big-ticket item, which had not been publicly exhibited for 57 years, was estimated to fetch between £4 million and £6 million at Christie’s Modern British And Irish Art sale on Wednesday.
The painting was last sold in 1967, realising a record price for the artist at the time, and was offered from the collection of Sir Keith and Lady Showering.
The 1957 piece went under the hammer for £6,290,000, including buyer’s premium.
It is the second highest price achieved for Lowry at auction, after his 1953 painting Going To The Match sold at Christie’s in October 2022 for £7,846,500.
Meanwhile, the auction in London also saw an oval-shaped sculpture by Dame Barbara Hepworth exceed its price estimate of between £2.2 million and £3.2 million.
Sculpture With Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue And Red, carved in 1943, sold for £3,549,000.
Other works by the Wakefield-born artist also went under the hammer, including the brass 1957 sculpture Maquette For Winged Figure which sold for £277,200.
Also up for sale was Londoner Lynn Chadwick’s metallic sculpture, Sitting Couple On Bench, which was conceived in 1990 and cast in 2001.
It sold for £1,613,000, having been estimated to go for between £1.2 million and £1.8 million.