Lowry exhibition with 140 works aims to bust 'naive' myth
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- MK Gallery will open "LS Lowry: the Theatre of Life" on 24 October with 140 paintings, co-curated by gallery director Anthony Spira to "bust a few myths" about Lowry being "naive and isolated or self-taught."
Why it matters: The 140-work retrospective gives art historians and the public a chance to reassess Lowry beyond his industrial scenes, an overdue correction given that his most famous painting, *Going to the Match*, commanded £7.8m in 2022 and that Tate only mounted its first major Lowry show in 2013 — over a decade after McKellen's public criticism. The inclusion of *A Football Match*, unseen publicly for 85 years, is a rare curatorial event for a still-misunderstood British artist.
