LS Lowry's Sunday Afternoon on public show for first time in decades

The artwork was painted in 1957 and has been in private hands since being sold at auction in 1967

LS Lowry's painting Sunday Afternoon has gone on public display for the first time in almost six decades.

The Stretford-born artist, who died in 1976, once said the work of a densely populated industrial landscape depicted the "battle of life".

It has gone on show at Christie's London ahead of an auction on 20 March.

The auction house, which sold the work to a private collector in 1967 for a "record price", said it was expected to fetch between £4m and £6m.

Before his death in 1976, LS Lowry produced more than 1,000 artworks

The artwork, which was painted in 1957, was obtained from the collection of Sir Keith Showering, who was a former chief executive of Europe's biggest drinks business, Allied Breweries.

Phillip Harley, senior director at Christie's, said the "important painting" had remained in the collection of Sir Keith and Lady Showering since 1967, which meant the sale was "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to acquire a work of this magnitude and scale".

"The composition represents the wonder the artist felt as he recorded his many observations of the evolving society around him," he said.

Born Laurence Stephen Lowry in Stretford in 1887, the artist became known for his depictions of industrial life across the North of England and a series of atmospheric seascapes.

He produced more than 1,000 artworks across his lifetime.

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