Co-op’s Lowry on tour

A CUMBRIAN supermarket doubled as an art gallery for a day when a Lowry picture returned "home" to take pride of place in North Eastern & Cumbrian Co-op&#039s...

A CUMBRIAN supermarket doubled as an art gallery for a day when a Lowry picture returned "home" to take pride of place in North Eastern & Cumbrian Co-op&#039s store in Cleator Moor.
The pastel drawing ? The Co-op, Market Square, Cleator Moor ? depicts a typical Cumbrian street scene, with the former Cleator Moor Co-op building featuring prominently. The Co-operative Group bought it for &#163 35,000 last year in an auction at Christie&#039s.
During the one-day exhibition, the Co-operative Group&#039s Cumbria-born Secretary Nick Eyre ? who was instrumental in acquiring the picture ? visited the store with North Eastern & Cumbrian Co-op Chairman Terry Morton.
From Cleator Moor, the picture was transferred to the Beacon&#039s Harbour Gallery, Whitehaven, where it was on show for the rest of the week. Later, the work will be loaned to the Lowry Centre at Salford Quays.
Lowry was a regular visitor to the Cleator Moor area and in 1950 he produced this particular pastel which has only been publicly exhibited once before.
Pictured…A security guard protects the painting at the Co-op store.

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