Cambridge – Fitzwilliam Museum (After the Wedding by Laurence Stephen Lowry)

This artwork was painted by LS Lowry (1887-1976) in 1939 and as the name suggests, it’s themed around the wedding that is taking place. Well, and the Corner House pub. Lowry had started to paint these matchstick men in the early 1920s and they became the imagery that is mostly now seen to define his career. I’ve been meaning to visit the Lowry Gallery in Salford, but have never quite got round to it.

I can’t add much to this as the Fitzwilliam’s image database is down for security issues, so all I know is that it was given to the gallery by Mrs FJ Collard in 2002. I don’t know whether the Corner House pub actually exists, or whether it was a figment of Lowry’s imagination. I like that, despite the overall theme, the top half of the artwork is all about pollution and industry, the wedding isn’t given automatic prominence here. And, indeed, even the wedding party aren’t seen as the main central characters, everyone seems to have a purpose here and is no more important than anyone else.