The Heart of the Town – Sean Durkin
The streets meet at the heart of a northern town, where shopfronts sit beneath red-brick buildings and people thread their way across the pale square. Beyond the rooftops, a clock tower and church spires rise among smoking mill chimneys. Children linger by the foreground railings, while many of the passers-by keep their eyes lowered. For all its movement, Sean Durkin gives this town a reflective stillness, as though every person has somewhere to go and something on their mind.
Sean's connection to L.S. Lowry began with a remarkable morning in childhood. He woke to find a Lowry painting on the family mantelpiece, stolen from a Middlesbrough gallery by his father, John Durkin. John's ransom demands were as unexpected as the theft: better gallery security, Sunday opening so working people could enjoy the art, and the Mayor's underpants raffled for charity. The painting stayed with Sean long after it was returned, helping inspire his own affectionate, humorous portraits of northern life. Look closely for the burglar in his striped top and the policeman, recurring characters that carry a little of that family story into Sean's scenes.
Follow more of Sean's northern streets in A Northern Saturday, Last Orders on Union Street and Edna's Baps.
Edition Details
Published by C&D Fine Art. An Autumn 2026 release, limited to 75 fine art prints plus 8 artist's proofs. Printed on 300gsm fine art paper, each print is individually signed and numbered by Sean Durkin and supplied with a certificate of authenticity.
Approximate Measurements
Measurements shown as width × height.
- Image size: approx. 48 × 48 cm
- Mounted size: approx. 63.5 × 65 cm
- Framed size: approx. 66 × 67.5 cm
Presentation Options
- Mounted – presented in an off-white double mount and supplied acetate wrapped.
- Framed – presented in the off-white double mount and a 3.8 cm-wide matt black oak frame, strung and ready to hang.
© The Artist
