Bloomsbury Square 1967 - 1968

Curator: Here we have L.S. Lowry's "Bloomsbury Square," part of the Tate Collections, measuring 473 by 606 mm. Editor: It looks like a charcoal sketch, stark and lonely. A figure slumped on a park bench… very raw. Curator: Lowry's use of line here is quite deliberate, isn't it? Notice the heavy contour enclosing the mass of the body, contrasting with the almost ethereal background. Editor: It makes me think about urban isolation, the anonymity of city life... It's a heavy feeling, a weight. Curator: The composition reinforces this, wouldn’t you agree? The figure dominates the frame. Editor: Absolutely, and it’s that stark simplicity – a man, a bench, a city – that makes it so affecting. It's a quick sketch, but it has so much to say about our lives. Curator: A poignant observation indeed. Editor: Yes, definitely. It feels like a melancholic poem.