Alfred Wallis (1855-1942)

Wallis became an iconic figure for artists of the St Ives' School who admired his simple compositions and individual creativity. Following, his now legendary discovery by Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood in 1928, his works were exhibited in the 1929 exhibition of the 7 & 5 Society and included in Herbert Read's survey Art Now in 1933. His influence is seen in Nicholson's Cornish landscapes and Wood's Breton seascapes. Wood commented 'more and more influence de Wallis, not a bad master though' (C. Wood, Letter to Winifred Nicholson, 31 October 1928, Tate Gallery Archive 8618).

Berlin wrote of Wallis's work: 'He produced paintings of a unique kind: paintings that had new and unsuspected formal and colour relationships, new structure, design, texture and organization, bound together by an unquestionable sincerity and directness' (S. Berlin, 'Alfred Wallis', Horizon, January, 1943).