L.S. Lowry’s “Father and Two Sons” has sold for £1.63 million ($2.48 million), setting a record for a portrait by the artist at auction.Sotheby’s sale of Modern & Post-War British in London was led by the painting, billed as the most important portrait by one of Britain’s best-loved artists.Painted in 1950, the glimpse into street life came to the market from the collection of Manchester-born collector Frank Cohen, and was previously owned by Monty Bloom, Lowry’s key patron of the later part of his career.The oil-on-canvas work had a presale estimate of £1.5 million to £2.5 million.Speaking about the painting prior to the sale, Frank Cohen commented: “I passionately believe that Lowry ranks alongside other great painters like Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. I bought ‘Father and Two Sons’ back in the late 1990s as a present to myself after selling my DIY business.“This is a painting that reminds me of my youth, but I’m now getting on in life so I’m thinking of the future. I've always said that if I was blessed with a grandchild I'd leave it to him or her, but I now have three grandchildren and I can't divide the painting up, so I feel that after nearly 20 years it's the right time to part with it and enable someone else to appreciate it as much as I have.”The event also set a record price at auction for Peter Lanyon. His “Dry Wind,” dated from 1958, sold for £389,000 (est. 120,000-180,000). There was also a record for a work on paper by Dame Barbara Hepworth. Her “Forms in Movement (Circle),” dated 1942, fetched £257,000, beating an estimate of £70,000 to 100,000.Lowry is known especially for his large landscapes with matchstick figures such as “The Football Match” (1949) and “Piccadilly Circus” (1960), which both sold in 2011, with the London scene fetching a record £5.6million.
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