LS Lowry's raffled sketch up for auction

A sketch by LS Lowry that was raffled off for charity 55 years ago is to go under the hammer next month.

Drawn in 1970, A Harassed Mother is one of the more than 8,000 drawings the Salford artist created in his lifetime.

The work, valued by auctioneers Wilson 55 at between £25,000 and £35,000, will be available to bidders in an online auction on 5 March.

Although best known for his paintings of working-class life in the north of England, critics say Lowry's sketches reveal another facet of his talent.

Also up for auction are copies of the speeches that Professor W.J. Orville Thomas delivered when Lowry and another Salford painter Harold Riley were awarded Honorary Doctorates of Letters by the University of Salford in 1975 and 1979

A Harassed Mother was won by Thomas in a raffle on 21 January 1971 after Lowry donated it as a prize, to help raise funds for the improvement of the L.S. Lowry Room at Salford Corporation Art Gallery.

Thomas, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Salford, was a key figure in the acquisition of art for both the university and the wider Manchester area.

A good friend of Riley, who introduced him to Lowry, Thomas also arranged for Riley to meet the Duke of Edinburgh for a sitting during Prince Philip's tenure as Chancellor of the University of Salford, auctioneers Wilson 55 said.

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