The Pond
Signed Print

The Pond is a quintessential example of one of Lowry’s urban landscapes. The composition includes many of the typical Lowryan elements such as smoke rising from factories and chimneys, houses with little balconies and a mass of his matchstick figures scurrying across the urban scene and public space. Lowry was interested in mapping the effects of the Industrial Revolution on the changing face of Victorian England, however through highlighting the darker side of this progress in terms of the constant fatigue and psychological pressure that comes with such an acceleration of all aspects of life and work. In fact, the artist himself considered The Pond to be his best industrial landscape. In his own words in a letter written in 1956: “This is a composite picture built up from a blank canvas. I hadn’t the slightest idea of what I was going to put in the canvas when I started the picture, but it eventually came out as you see it. This is the way I like working best”.