Alfred Wallis

(British, 1855-1942)

Boats with Rust Sails 11.2 x 22.4 cm. (4 3/8 x 8 3/4 in.)

Footnotes

Provenance
Sven Berlin, from whom acquired by
Elizabeth Leach (Bernard Leach's daughter-in-law), thence by family descent to the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.

It is likely that the present work depicts St Ives Bay and Godrevy Lighthouse/headland and various vessels are depicted in the bay. In the foreground, a St Ives fishing lugger is moored at anchor, the mizzen sail set to keep it to wind. Other gaff-rigged sailing boats pass nearby. In the top left of the composition is Godrevy Lighthouse, built to warn of a dangerous reef of rocks, known as The Stones, which lie to the seaward side of the light. These rocks are partly obscured by the sail of one of the boats.

The present work is striking and somewhat rare in the earth toned sails of the vessels depicted. More commonly, Wallis focussed his palette on white, green, blue and black, a practice that was noted by Ben Nicholson:

"Since his approach was so childlike one might have supposed that his severe selection of a few colours was purely unconscious, but I remember one day he was complaining that he was short of some colours, and when I asked him which he said he needed rock-colour and sand-colour, and I got these for him in the yacht-paint he was using. Kit Wood remarked that it might easily spoil his work to give him new colours when so much of its point depended on the use of a few, but it seemed to me that since he had asked for them he must be ready to deal with them. Next day he made a new painting using, of course, rock-colour for anything but rock and sand-colour for anything but sand, and keeping to his usual small number of colours; and as I went out, having admired the colour of the painting (we had, of course, not spoken to him about the number of colours he used), he said: 'You don't want to use too many colours'". (Ben Nicholson quoted in Exh.Cat., Two Painters, Works by Alfred Wallis and James Dixon, Merrell Holberton, London, 1999, p.105).

The present and following two lots enjoy distinguished provenance having been in the collections of both Sven Berlin and the family of esteemed potter Bernard Leach, please see the note on Lot 3 for further information.