London – Christie’s will offer L.S. Lowry’s masterpiece Sunday Afternoon (1957, estimate: £4,000,000-6,000,000) as a leading highlight of the Modern British and Irish Art Evening Sale, taking place on 20 March. Presented from the Collection of Sir Keith and Lady Showering, the painting has not been exhibited publicly in 57 years. Last sold in 1967 at Christie’s, during the artist’s lifetime, it realised a then record price for a painting by the artist. Christie’s has achieved seven of the current top ten prices for Lowry’s work at auction. Sunday Afternoon’s epic and highly populated industrial landscape exemplifies some of the most widely celebrated themes, landmarks and motifs from within Lowry’s oeuvre, something incredibly rare to see within a single composition. Thought to be one of around 12 works created on this, his largest scale, with almost all similar paintings of this size now held in prominent public museums including The Lowry, Salford; Tate, London; and National Museum of Wales, Cardiff. The painting will be on view for all to see, at Christie’s headquarters on King Street in London, from 13 to 20 March.  

Keith Showering was a dynamic businessman whose career was founded on a 300-year-old Somerset family cider making business and the meteoric success of Babycham. By 1975, Showering was Chairman and CEO of Allied Breweries, Europe’s biggest drinks business, becoming the youngest ever Chairman and CEO of a FTSE 100 company. In 1981 he was knighted for services to industry and that same year he took over as Master of the Worshipful Company of Brewers. By the time of his death he was on the board of a wide variety of companies and arts organisations. 

Philip Harley, Senior Director, Modern British and Irish Art, Christie’s: “Sunday Afternoon by L.S. Lowry will return to the public eye at Christie’s for the first time since it was last seen here 57 years ago. This important painting has remained in the Collection of Sir Keith and Lady Showering since 1967, offering a once-in-a-generation opportunity to acquire a work of this magnitude and scale. The composition represents the wonder the artist felt as he recorded his many observations of the evolving society around him. We are thrilled to bring Sunday Afternoon back to auction in the Modern British and Irish Art Evening Sale. We look forward to welcoming our clients and visitors alike to view the painting when it goes on free display in London on 13 March.”

Lowry believed that crowds of people, with their individual characteristics, created unique patterns. These rhythms, he felt, revealed much about that person and their purpose for being present within the scene. This lifelong pursuit to capture what he described as the ‘battle of life’ continues to enthral audiences internationally.