BLITZED SITE, 1942 by L. S. LOWRY
During WORLD WAR II, LOWRY was appointed an official war artist. He painted several images of the after-effects of the bombing. In BLITZED SITE, the landscape is filled with debris from destroyed buildings, and grey smoke rises from the ruins.
Later in life he would recall that he would always be the first to get up in the morning and sketch the buildings that had been destroyed before the smoke and dust had settled. In BLITZED SITE, a red building is still standing on the left hand side, emphasising the contrast between what had been and what is now.
LOWRY’s “matchstick men” seem to be digging through the rubble, while others, especially the man in the middle of the front shot looking straight at the camera, seem to be in shock and confusion.
According to cultural historian PAUL DAVE, one of LOWRY'S critics, JOHN ROTHENSTEIN, “LOWRY’s value lies in the realism he brought to the ‘squalid disorder’ of the interwar period and how it served to counterbalance the dull uniformity of post-war social construction.”