Spotlight on L.S. Lowry at British Art Fair

British Art Fair

BRITISH ART FAIR 2025

Modern and Contemporary British Art

25 - 28 September
Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York HQ, King’s Road, London SW3 4RY

Spotlight on L.S. Lowry at British Art Fair

Sunday Morning, 1938, Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches / 46 x 61 cms

Crane Kalman Gallery, a new exhibitor at British Art Fair, reveals personal connections to L.S. Lowry, presenting a series of rare works by one of Britain’s most popular painters for sale.

“In 1949 Andras Kalman opened The Crane Gallery in a basement air-raid shelter in South King Street, Manchester, where the weekly £2 rent was paid by the regular pawning of his typewriter. With persuasion and charm, he managed to obtain for his first exhibition, works by Sir Jacob Epstein, Matthew Smith, Lucien Freud and John Craxton; despite sending invitations to every influential name he could discover, no one came.” Writes Shelley Rodhe in her biography, A Private View of L.S.Lowry (Collins, London 1979). The author takes us to the first meeting between Lowry and Kalman in 1950: “Lowry appeared at the second exhibition, bought a picture and as Kalman recalls ‘it cost him about £20 and I think he bought it only to give my morale a boost’. Visits to the gallery ensued, as did many hours in conversation about artists and the artworld, leading to a lifelong friendship.”

Kalman first exhibited Lowry’s work in 1952 and Crane Kalman has continued to exhibit his work ever since, hosting a 70th anniversary exhibition at their Knightsbridge gallery in 2022.

Andras Kalman loading paintings to the top of his car in 1956 outside his gallery in Manchester

L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) is best known for painting the daily lives of Northern British people, often against the background of the modern industrial city. He also painted timeless seascapes and country landscapes that were often empty and even desolate. Collections that hold Lowry’s work include The Tate, London; The Royal Academy of Arts; London; The Hepworth, Wakefield; The Lowry, Salford; Kettles Yard, The University of Cambridge; National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Setagaya Museum, Tokyo.

Crane Kalman Gallery will be exhibiting seven works by L.S. Lowry for sale at British Art Fair, including examples of his best known city scenes, landscapes, a portrait and a series of his later, more haunting and comic works. The price range is £25,000 to £1million. You will find them on the ground floor at Saatchi Gallery, 25-28 September 2025.

Andrew Kalman, son of Andras Kalman and director of Crane Kalman Gallery said: ”To celebrate our debut participation at the British Art Fair, Crane Kalman Gallery is delighted to present a selection of paintings and works on paper by L.S.Lowry. Arguably, no exhibition of Modern British Art would be complete without featuring Lowry, who remains deeply popular with the general public, feted and collected by lovers of 20th-century British art.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

Ramsay Fairs
British Art Fair is owned by Ramsay Fairs. In 2025 the company, which runs 20 fairs worldwide, celebrated its 25th anniversary. Affordable Art Fairs can now be found in 15 cities including Amsterdam, Berlin, Brisbane, Brussels, Hamburg, Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, New York and Singapore. VOLTA Art Fair takes place annually in Basel. With over 250,000 visitors a year, Ramsay Fairs has earned a global reputation for hosting stylish art fairs at all levels of the market, as well for introducing art to generations of collectors.

The 2025 British Art Fair Team
British Art Fair Co-Founder, Gay Hutson, and Will Ramsay CEO, Ramsay Fairs, are advised by a panel which includes art market journalist Colin Gleadell and dealers Jamie Anderson, Jenna Burlingham, Zavier Ellis, James Hyman, Peter Osborne and Richard Selby. The fair also has a vetting committee to authenticate the works shown.

BLAST and British Art News
British Art Fair publishes news on all areas of Modern and Contemporary British art in public and commercial galleries in a column edited by author Alex Leith. The fair sponsors BLAST | Art Market Report, a monthly and independent report by Colin Gleadell with exclusive content on the British art market. Read and sign up for free at www.britishartfair.co.uk/blast

British Art Fair 2025 Associate Partner: Riverstone Living
Riverstone creates vibrant later living communities in prime London locations, where culture, wellbeing and connection are at the heart of everyday life.

British Art Fair 2025 Collectors’ Preview Partner: Plowden & Smith
Since 1966, Plowden & Smith has provided specialist conservation, restoration and mount-making services to the world’s most discerning collectors, fine art market professionals and the global museum sector.

Saatchi Gallery
Since 1985, Saatchi Gallery has provided an innovative platform for contemporary art. Exhibitions have presented works by largely unseen young artists, or by international artists whose work has been rarely or never exhibited in the UK. This approach has made the Gallery one of the most recognised names in contemporary art. Since moving to its current 70,000 square feet space in the Duke of York’s Headquarters in Chelsea, London, the Gallery has welcomed over 10 million visitors. The Gallery hosts thousands of school visits annually and has over 6 million followers on social media. In 2019 Saatchi Gallery became a registered charity, beginning a new chapter in its history. www.saatchigallery.com
Registered Charity Number: 1182328

BRITISH ART FAIR

Modern and Contemporary British Art

25 - 28 September 2025

Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York HQ, King’s Road, London SW3 4RY

www.britishartfair.co.uk

office@britishartfair.co.uk

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Opening Hours

Collectors' Preview, Thursday 25 September, 11am– 9pm

Friday 26 September, 11am – 9pm

Saturday 27 September, 11am – 7pm