Alfred Wallis (1855-1942)

Margaret Gardiner (1904-2005) was the artist's friend and patron. As well as being a notable patron of the arts, she was a writer, an adopter of political causes and the founder of the I.C.A. She supported a wide group of artists associated with St Ives, including Barbara Hepworth, Naum Gabo, Terry Frost, Patrick Heron, Peter Lanyon, Roger Hilton and Alfred Wallis. In the early days during their struggles for recognition she acquired works by this group through purchase, and later when they were more established as gifts from the artists.

In the 1950s Margaret Gardiner visited Orkney and fell in love with the islands, staying on the island of Rousay which she continued to visit well into her nineties. In 1978 she donated her mainly Cornish, and specifically St Ives art collection, to the people of Orkney. The sea-surrounded landscape of these islands is fittingly reminiscent of much of Cornwall, whose origin is integral to her art collection. The collection is now assembled and on view in two 18th Century buildings at the Pier Art Centre, Stromness, which opened to the public in July 1979.