Lowry classic could sell for £4.5m

A PAINTING by "matchstick men" artist LS Lowry which has not been seen in public for 20 years could set a world record for his works by fetching up to £4.5 million at auction.

The Football Match was painted in 1949 and is one of the most eyecatching depictions of the sport by the Manchester City fan, famed for his simple depictions of working-class life.

The artwork is in the hands of a private collector and is estimated to go for between 3.5m and 4.5m when it is sold by Christie's in May. Hundreds of Lowry's signature stick figures can be seen gathered at a match on a washed-out pitch between terraced houses and factories with billowing chimneys. Lowry died in 1976 at the age of 88.

The painting toured in London, the United States and Paris shortly after it was completed, before entering a collection in 1950.

Its sale could outstrip the previous highest price for a Lowry, when Good Friday, Daisy Nook fetched 3.8m in 2007.

Philip Harley, head of 20th-century British and Irish art at Christie's, said: "The Football Match is the ultimate work for passionate connoisseurs of Lowry's work and of football."