Born in Manchester in 1887, Lawrence Stephen Lowry was the only child of Robert and Elizabeth Lowry. Having started drawing at age of eight, in 1903 he began private painting classes which marked the start of a part-time education in art that was to continue for twenty years. The following year Lowry would leave school and secure and job as a clerk in a chartered accountancy firm, he would remain in full-time employment until his retirement at the age of 65. A desire to be considered a serious artist led Lowry to keep his professional and artistic life completely separate, and it was not disclosed until after his death that he had worked for most of his life. An individual artist with a unique style, the work of Lowry spans the first half of the twentieth century, recording with sensitivity and wit his personal views of the people and architecture of industrial Northern England. Although he had received critical acclaim for his work during the second half of his life, he never forgot the lack of recognition that he had initially received and he carried with him a sense of isolation and rejection throughout his career, refusing the offer of a knighthood and remaining disillusioned with the art world despite the increasing praise it heaped upon him.