Name: Ferry Boats
Brand: L S Lowry
Rating: 5 (231 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of L S Lowry’s Ferry Boats (signed) is estimated to be worth between £1,650 and £2,500. This lithograph print, created in 1972, has shown consistent performance in the market with an average annual growth rate of -10%. This work has a strong auction history, having been sold 25 times at auction since its initial sale on 16th March 2005. In the last 12 months, the artwork has sold 4 times with an average selling price of £1,652. Over the past five years, the hammer price has ranged from £1,210 in May 2024 to £3,600 in September 2022. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 500.

Auction Date

Auction House

Location

Hammer Price

Return to Seller

Buyer Paid

August 2024

Sworders

United Kingdom

May 2024

Lyon & Turnbull Edinburgh

United Kingdom

October 2023

Cheffins

United Kingdom

October 2023

Dawsons, Berkshire

United Kingdom

August 2023

Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers

Ireland

June 2023

Bonhams New Bond Street

United Kingdom

March 2023

Ewbank's

United Kingdom

Meaning & Analysis

There were many important events around Lowry’s career during the execution of this painting in 1960; The Lowry Gallery opened in Salford in 1958, in 1959 Lowry had a second retrospective at Manchester Art Gallery and in 1962 he was made a full academician at the Royal Academy. Around all his fame, Lowry still worked as a rent collector and still lived with his mother. Lowry hated celebrity and was uninterested in the limelight. Looking at Ferry Boats it is easy to see that this was more inspired by the lives of others than the fortunes of himself. Lowry focuses on the crowd and composes the picture around the form of a mass of figures, in this instance boarding a ferry. There is some fondness in this picture which is missing from Lowry’s bleaker seascapes. “I’d like to live by the sea” Lowry told Liz O’Donnell, née Fitton in 1961. The punters are dressed colourfully, which is unusual in a Lowry painting and the jolly funnels and sailing ships betray an optimism rarely seen in other works of the period such as Sailing Boats.

Born in 1887, L. S. Lowry was a key figure in 20th century British painting. Known for his distinctive painterly style and 'matchstick men', Lowry aimed to put industry on the map by typically focusing on scenes from his hometown in the North West of England. The naivety of his art drew criticism, yet has stood the test of time with the artist becoming a household name. Lowry has consistently performed in the secondary market, with works such as Going To The Match achieving a value of £2,919,000 in 2021 and the editioned prints remaining highly sought after.