LONDON.- This June, Sotheby’s will present at auction three outstanding works by L.S. Lowry, one of Britain’s best-loved artists, from the collection of another national treasure, the late Cilla Black. The three paintings, which have a total estimate of £520,000-830,000, will be offered in Sotheby’s evening sale of Modern & Post-War British Art on 13 June 2016.

One of the nation’s favourite pop stars of the swinging sixties, and later an icon of British TV entertainment, Cilla rose to stardom as a singer managed by Brian Epstein, with songs written for her by close friends Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Decades on, she continued to delight millions with her unique brand of unaffected humour and charm, becoming the undisputed queen of Saturday night television. Introduced to buying art by Epstein, from the start Cilla bought what she loved and could relate to - drawn to Lowry in particular as he was the painter of the very world she grew up in.

“Mum and dad bought art that they loved and that they could relate to, and since L.S. Lowry painted the world that our mother grew up in there was very much a personal connection to each of these particular paintings. It was Brian Epstein who first introduced them to buying art when they were able to afford to, and he introduced them to a number of artists who were prominent at the time. Dad had a good eye for seeking out great works, and mum wanted to feel a connection to the works on a personal level and Lowry was an artist they were both drawn to.

Each of the Lowry paintings they bought depict day-to-day scenes and family life, and mum and dad lived with them accordingly, hanging them in our family home in pride of place in the living room where we spent the most time together. The third Lowry they bought, The Black Church, was actually a surprise for mum that dad bought for her 50th birthday – by then he knew which particular works by the artist would appeal to her and the ‘Black’ in the title had additional resonance.” Cilla Black’s sons

Discussing the sale, Sotheby’s specialist Simon Hucker said: “For many it may come as a surprise that Cilla owned and cherished works by Lowry, but then why wouldn't she? Lowry painted the world that she grew up in: the tightly packed terraces and backstreets of the cities of the industrial North. His work records and celebrated the working-class culture that gave Cilla her identity and which she never wanted to lose despite becoming a national celebrity. Lowry's paintings are accessible, but they're also complex, resonant with a poetry that anyone born in the north of England in the war years would have understood."

Laurence Stephen Lowry, Family Group, 1938 (est. £300,000-500,000)
Family Group is an outstanding example of Lowry’s ability to encapsulate elements of working-class life in the North – a subject that would have deeply resonated with Cilla and her husband Bobby, having grown up in the tougher parts of Liverpool in the 1950s. The painting also expresses a theatrical quality, in evoking the ‘kitchen sink’ dramas of the period, with their themes of poverty, class and the desire of the young to break free.

The dark themes of poverty, hunger and unemployment set the stage for the strength which arose from working class culture – an important element of self-identity in the changing circumstances of Cilla’s own life.

Lowry was greatly inspired by the play Hindle Wakes, a stage play by Stanley Houghton first performed in Manchester in 1912. The play is set in the fictional mill town of Hindle in Lancashire in England, and concerns two young people – with class the major plot point. Family Group’s bare room furnished with the basic essentials of domestic life is a snapshot of one such set, with the young boy staring out as if about to address the audience. Lowry never painted what he saw, instead, like a playwright, he distilled elements of the world around him to construct a vision of life in the industrial north.

The girl in the blue coat stands with her back to the viewer, an act of defiance against the greyness of her circumstances. The figure of the mother is equally compelling, as her dignified silence sets the tone for the work.

Laurence Stephen Lowry, The Black Church, 1964 (est. £120,000-180,000)
A charming insight into their sense of humour, Bobby bought The Black Church principally for its title as surprise for Cilla’s 50th birthday – displayed in their private family sitting room from then on. A joyful and lively composition, the work exudes energy and scope in its depisction of a classic bustling cityscape with Lowry’s trademark tiny figures.

Lowry was fascinated by the modest, simple churches that are found scattered around Manchester. In his paintings, they take on an anthropomorphic quality as they stand back from the crowd watching life pass by.

The small scale demonstrates Lowry’s prowess at its very best, as he is in full command of both subject matter and technique. Capturing a sense of movement of people scurrying around a city, Lowry also manages to convey something of their cares, as well as bried moments of joy.

Laurence Stephen Lowry, The Spire, 1949 (est. £100,000-150,000)
The Spire depicts a street of work terraces, with a group of figures bent against a biting cold wind – using imagined architecture to create a narrative. Painted in 1949, the work is unusual as it is suffused with the brooding atmosphere that characterised his much earlier works. The former influence of French Impressionist painter Adolphe Valette, who painted the streets of Manchester, is also apparent. This revisiting of his past gives the painting an air of nostalgia.