Salford's mayor Paul Dennett has formally launched a campaign to keep LS Lowry's world-famous painting 'Going to the Match' in the city. The work which was painted by the Salford-born artist in 1953 and which features football fans on their way to the then Bolton Wanderers ground, Burnden Park, goes up for auction at Christie's on October 19.
Potentially, the painting owned by the charitable arm of the Professional Footballers' Association, could fetch more than £8million, according to experts. Speaking from The Lowry art gallery at Salford Quays, where the painting has been on display for the last 22 years, Mr Dennett appealed to people in the football community or other people in Greater Manchester 'of means' to bid for the painting.
He also said he was drafting a letter to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Michaelle Donelan, asking for a temporary export ban to prevent the painting going abroad should it be acquired by an international collector. Mr Dennett told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "We're here really to try to galvanise support to try to retain this painting in what is Lowry's biggest collection of paintings and drawings here at the art gallery which is free to access for members of the public in Salford, Greater Manchester and beyond.
"To safeguard this painting as part of the largest collection of his drawings and paintings in the world is so important. "We're appealing and pleading with people in Greater Manchester, the footballing community and people outside that community, people of means ultimately, to take part in the auction at Christie's to acquire the painting but also to keep it here at the Lowry art gallery in and amongst some of his other amazing pieces of work, from his earlier portraits to what he later became renowned for - the matchstick men, women and children.
"That for us is so important here in the city of Salford, ensuring that artwork is free to access especially at a time when we have a cost of living crisis, when the idea of paying to go to an art gallery or museum is a luxury for many people who people are already choosing between heating and eating."
Mr Dennett's comments were echoed by The Lowry's director of visual art, Michael Simpson, who said that millions of people had seen the painting over the last 22 years while it had been on display in the gallery. "Lowry is one of Salford's greatest heroes," said Mr Simpson. "He was born here and lived pretty much his whole life in and around Salford and Manchester.
"The wonderful thing about his work is he painted everyday people living everday lives - the ebb and flow of daily life - going to work, going to school, going to the foootball match at a time really when no one else was interested in people. Others were interested in the development of modern art. Lowry was fascinated by all that himself, but what he wanted to paint was ordinary people. So having a painting like this, painted in 1953, when Lowry was at the top of his game, has been fantastic.
"Millions of people have seen the picture," he continued. "Every every other Saturday when Manchester United are at home, we get all the football fans who come to see it as well.
"They'll have a drink and have something to eat and they'll see themselves in that work. They'll talk to my team about what it's like to go to a football match. The match is important, but it's that shared experience that we all have when we go to watch football."
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