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Chop House Art

The Statue Story: LS Lowry

February 23, 1976 was the day LS Lowry died – just a few months before he was recognised with his first-ever exhibition at the prestigious Royal Academy in London. In 2011, February 23 was the day we unveiled our tribute to arguably Manchester’s most celebrated icon – a world-famous and self-confessed ‘simple man.’

This statue itself was inspired by many things.

Eleven years ago I had a drink with Ernest Hemingway in a bar in Cuba. The bar was called El Floridita. It’s in old town Havana. It specialises in his favourite daiquiris. One of the many odd things about the experience was that Hemingway had been dead for almost 40 years. My companion was a life-sized bronze statue: he was damned good company.

Three or four years ago I was taken into the lobby of an office building on King Street in Manchester. There I saw an original drawing by Harold Riley of the grand old man of Manchester art, LS Lowry. According to Riley’s notes framed below the picture, he was asleep after a Christmas lunch at Sam’s Chop House. He was a regular in the restaurant, and had been so for decades – ever since he began work around the corner for the Pall Mall Property Company. Many of the waitresses of that era remember him fondly. He often used to sit and draw in the Sherry Bar. And would give away many of his menu doodles. 

I was introduced by a colleague to an emerging local sculptor, Peter Hodgkinson, known by his friends as Pete Hodge. He was responsible for the famous statue of Sir Tom Finney, The Splash, in the fountain at Preston North End’s football ground.I commissioned him to bring Harold Riley’s drawing to life. His brief was to depict Lowry as an ordinary man in a scene from his everyday life. 

Pete spent almost five months ageing and crafting the likeness to present a smiling, slim middle-aged figure. Lowry’s clothing was researched in detail; decisions made on which suit, hat and outer wear; we discussed his build, his age and how affectionate a tribute we wanted to deliver.

Then I received an email from a man called Sefton.

It began: “I gather you may be interested in photos of Lowry.”

He gathered correctly. And so began a fresh start in the project – captured on film by my friends at Rapport Creative and the up-and-coming photographer Paul Wolfgang Webster. Sefton Samuels is an 80 year-old photojournalist. He has photographed famous jazz musicians for more than half a century; captured Manchester and its icons in the 1960s and 70s; and recorded famous Northerners throughout his working life.

And, of course, he was responsible for many of the most memorable (and recognised) images of Lowry from two sittings: one in 1968, the last in 1975. His works hang in the V&A and the National Portrait Gallery. His pictures included Lowry’s favourite photograph of himself. Sefton was happy to lend us all of his work as references. He was also happy to lend us his eye, his critical skills, his friendship and his time.

Three days after seeing the photos for the first time, Pete’s statue had taken a new direction: Lowry had aged by 25 years; put on many pounds; and lost the smile.

The finished statue, and Sefton’s wonderful photos, are my tribute to Mr Lowry.

Public art in a public house.

Born in Marple, Cheshire, 65 years ago, Bill Geldart was educated at Hyde Grammar school. His earliest memories are of drawing scenes from neighbouring woodlands and impressions of Saturday matinees. After National Service working as a photographer with an RAF fighter squadron based in Germany, he spent some time at the Regional College of Art in Manchester and was in and out of a series of poorly paid and boring jobs before joining Cheshire Life magazine, eventually becoming Art Editor for six years.

He decided to 'go it alone' in 1979 and today he works from his home in Henbury near Macclesfield in Cheshire where he and his wife Anne also run the Geldart Gallery. Bill travels extensively abroad - one drawing trip took him to Hong Kong for four weeks - and has enjoyed book and magazine illustration as well as commissions from such bodies as Manchester International Airport, The Sunday Times and the Halle Orchestra. Bill's subjects range from scenes in and around the north-west to characters both real and imaginary and he has exhibited in some of the UK's most prestigious galleries and even had a BBC television documentary made about his life and work. Bill still spends his days drawing the places, people and animals he so loves and is enjoying his greatest popularity among his many admirers.