Lowry fair scene shows Blackpool

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A re-discovered LS Lowry work thought to depict a fairground in Manchester actually portrays Blackpool Pleasure Beach, art experts have confirmed.

The work, A Fairground, was bought about 1950 but was never catalogued and has never gone on public display.

Although originally listed as showing the Beswick area, a journalist who saw the photograph recognised it as Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

Sotheby's described the painting as a "vividly accurate historical document".

A Fairground was believed to represent a fair in Beswick, an industrialised district of Manchester.

This is a phenomenally important development James Rawlin, Sotheby's

But when freelance reporter David Graham saw the picture in a newspaper, he spotted the architectural outlines of the Pleasure Beach, particularly the distinctive Noah's Ark attraction.

"Much as I didn't want to disappoint the residents of Beswick, where the scene was thought to be set, there was no way round it - this was Blackpool," he said.

LS Lowry painted the scene in 1938 but it was never exhibited and remained in a private collection.

Experts only became aware of it when the family approached Sotheby's, where experts called it "an exciting re-discovery".

James Rawlin, head of Sotheby's 20th Century British department confirmed experts now believed the painting depicted Blackpool.

£1m expected

He said: "This is a phenomenally important development. We think of Lowry as someone who captures the social history of his time and place, but this painting is also a vividly accurate historical document.

"It shows Blackpool Pleasure beach in the late 30s - at a time when its popularity was booming, attracting millions of British holidaymakers."

A Fairground is one of two Lowry works to be auctioned at Sotheby's in London on 13 December, and is estimated to fetch £700,000 to £1m.

The other is The Football Match, which depicts a game taking place against a backdrop of chimney stacks and industrial buildings, and is also expected to fetch about £1m.

The record price for a Lowry painting is the £3.7m in June for Good Friday, Daisy Nook.