Salford Mayor Paul Dennett has appealed to ‘people of means’ to acquire LS Lowry’s ‘Going to the Match’ painting, so it can remain available to the public.
Mayor Dennett, who has been extremely vocal on social media, spoke today at The Lowry Art Gallery and outlined the need for it to be kept in the public realm, and discussed the possibility of a temporary ban that would prevent it from leaving the United Kingdom.
The 1953 painting is one of Britain’s most iconic paintings for its working-class depiction of football and is expected to break records when it is sold by The Professional Association later this month.
The Mayor spoke about why the painting is so important to him, and the people of Salford: “For me, the capturing of that mundane, that grittiness and realism within working class communities, is so important for our culture, for our heritage.
“It really resonates with me personally, as a Labour Party politician, because Lowry was really interested in the struggles of real life within working-class communities, for all those reasons LS Lowry is an artist that resonates with me and is iconic and culturally important for the City of Salford.”
The painting has Lowry’s trademark stick figures and shows Bolton Wanderers’ old stadium Burnden Park, in Pendlebury, which was demolished in 1999.
Dennett is campaigning for people of ‘means’ to acquire the painting so that it can stay open to the people of Salford at the Lowry Art Gallery.
He stated his plans behind this: “If this painting is purchased by an international collector, at Christie’s on the 19th, then we will be pursuing a request through the Department of Culture, on a temporary ban on the export license that will need to be granted if this painting leaves the United Kingdom.
“That then will hopefully give us time, to raise the necessary finance to ensure that this painting is kept here in amongst Lowry’s drawings and paintings, the biggest collection of LS Lowry’s work within the world.”
When speaking about how the painting being free aligned with his political ideology, Dennett said: “Art and culture used to be preserved for the middle classes, for the landed gentry, for the royalty who had the wealth to commission artwork and artists.
“LS Lowry turned some of that, in terms of capturing working-class communities and working-class life and as a Labour leader, with socialist values, absolutely that resonates with me.”
My letter to people of means, encouraging them to save L.S. Lowry’s iconic painting: “Going to the Match”, so it can continue to be free to access for people @The_Lowry, as it has over the past 22 years, as part of the biggest collection of L.S. Lowry’s works in the world.🤞🏻👇🏻👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/T00v1ONOzJ
— SalfordMayor (@salford_mayor) October 1, 2022
The support for the painting to stay in Salford isn’t limited to the mayor, with members of the public and Lowry staff also holding similar views.
Michael Simpson, director of visual arts at The Lowry said: “Even though we knew there would always be a risk, what we would say is this painting has become iconic in the 20 years we have been showing it.
“Every other Saturday we have fans from home and away, coming to have a look at the picture as part of their visit to the game.
“The whole point of the picture, is Lowry’s not interested in the match itself, what interested him is that shared experience.”
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