VE Day stolen
VE Day by L S Lowry was cut from its frame and stolen during a fund raising event in March 1992. The painting was recovered a few months later in Edinburgh. After being restored, it was hung in Kelvingrove again just over three years after it was stolen.
I have decided that sometime in the Easter Holidays I am going to have a trip to Glasgow to visit this very painting. VE Day has always been a familiar painting throughout my life. Ever since I can remember this image has hung on the wall at my grandparents house, an image that reminds me of personal times gone by. There is something strangely appealing about this picture that I can never quite understand. It isn’t staggeringly beautiful or a master piece in the Art world, but Lowry captures something spectacularly captivating, which has lead me to looking at this picture hundreds (or even thousands) of times. Even now I struggle to say what I really like about it, is it simplicity or the way in which he captures the mood of VE Day, I honestly don’t know, but this image is very special to me.
I also know that this image has affected my other tastes in art, for example on my bedroom wall now I have this very image, titled Coal, Ships, Fish & Chips by Robert Olley. It has some real comparisons to Lowrys work, especially this stick man and dog I’m looking at now. Also they both have done images of people in working class area’s. Except Olley (to my knowledge) has never been commissioned to do work for the Queen, but hey you never know.
It’s been decided I’m having a trip to Glasgow, but first I still need to check its still located there, secondly lets check the calendar.
-Kyle