Alfred Wallis – Life, paintings and Artistic Legacy
Who was alfred wallis?
Alfred Wallis (1855–1942) was a self-taught artist at St Ives, Cornwall, whose naive maritime paintings have inspired generations of modern British artists. Known for his simple, yet expressive depictions of ships and the sea, Wallis captured the essence of coastal life with a unique vision.
how did Alfred Wallis's Early Life influence his art?
Born in Devonport in 1855, Alfred Wallis grew up in extreme poverty and worked at sea as a cabin boy aged 10. He gained first-hand experience of maritime life in his late teens, which gave him an intimate knowledge of boats, harbours, and seafaring. This informed his later paintings, which often depict fishing boats, sailing ships, and harbours with directness and simplicity.
when did alfred wallis start painting?
Wallis began painting at the age of 70, shortly after receiving his Old Age Pension, which was in August 1925.
What materials did Alfred wallis use?
Wallis often painted on scraps of cardboard using boat paints, creating a distinctive texture and style.
Did alfred wallis make a living from selling his paintings?
No. He was championed by the leading artists, critics and collectors of the British Modern Art movement, but they paid him very little for his paintings and he died a pauper in the former workhouse at Madron.
where can alfred wallis's paintings be seen today?
Wallis’s paintings are highly regarded today. Most of his pieces are held in Kettle’s Yard, but also in other public collections around the UK:
Belfast (Ulster Mus.): "Consols Mine Raswall Hill and the Road Zennor to Farms. The White You See Is Granite"; (c. 1936, oil and gouache on board).
Bönnigheim (Mus. Charlotte Zander): "Noah Ark" (Mixed media on cardboard); Harbour (oil, pencil on wood); Two Ships and a House (mixed media on cardboard); Penzance Harbour (oil on book cover); A Barque at its moorings (mixed media on Masonite); Saltash Bridge (mixed media on cardboard); Boats and lighthouse (oil on pasteboard); Two funnelled ship and lighthouse (oil on canvas); The hunt (mixed media on pasteboard); Train, track and trees (mixed media on pasteboard); Fishing boats (mixed media on pasteboard); Boat with large sails (mixed media on pasteboard); Five trees in a lane (mixed media on pasteboard); Lobster Pots (mixed media on pasteboard); Marine (oil on wood).
Cambridge (The Fitzwilliam Mus.): Two Masted Yawl (oil and graphite on card).
Cambridge (Kettle's Yard, University of Cambridge): 101 paintings from 1928-1940 and three sketchbooks from 1941.
Chichester (Otter Gallery, Univ. of Chichester): Boat (oil on paper).
Cornwall (The Cornwall Mus. and Art Gallery): Penzance Harbour Entrance (oil on board).
Dorchester (Dorset Mus.): Landscape with a House and Trees (oil on card); Harbour, St Ives, Cornwall (c. 1936, oil and pencil on cardboard); Three-Masted Schooner (oil and pencil on cardboard); Fishing Boat (oil on cardboard); Fishing Boat with Two Masts and Yellow Sails (oil on cardboard); Landscape with house and trees (oil on cardboard); Fishing boat on water (oil on cardboard); Sailing boat with three masts (oil on cardboard); Harbour at St Ives with fishing boats (oil on cardboard).
Eastbourne (Towner AG): Sailing Ship (c. 1930s, oil on cardboard on panel); Three Ships (c.1930s, oil on cardboard on panel); Steamer (c. 1930s, oil on cardboard on panel); White Sails (oil on cardboard).
Essex (Univ. of Essex Mus.): St Michael's Mount Harbour (oil on board); Ship (oil on board); Ships in Harbour (oil on board); Harbour and Sailing Ship (oil on board); Houses and Kilns (oil on board).
Greenwich (National Maritime Mus.): St Ives Harbour, Cornwall (mid-20th century, oil with graphite on card on board).
Hampshire (Mottisfont Abbey National Trust): House (c. 1935–1936, oil on canvas).
Hastings (Jerwood Collection): Two Boats (c. 1930, pencil and oil on card).
Isle of Wight (Sir Max Aitken Mus.): Sailing Boats (oil on board).
Leeds (Leeds Art Gallery): Mount's Bay with St Michael's Mount, Cornwall (oil and crayon on board).
Leicester (Leicester Mus. and Art Gallery): Two Black Boats Sailing Up Dark Grey Waves (oil on card).
London (Arts Council Collection): Ship in Rough Sea (oil on card); Trawler (oil on board).
London (Tate Collection): Schooner under the Moon (c. 1935-1936?, oil on board on panel); Voyage to Labrador (c. 1935-1936?, oil on panel); Houses at St Ives, Cornwall (c. 1928-1942?, oil on panel); The Blue Ship (c. 1934?, oil on panel on wood); St Ives (c. 1928, oil and drawing on board); Boats at Rest in Mount’s Bay (oil on board); Wreck of the Alba (1938, oil paint on wood); P.Z. 11 (c. 1928, oil paint on wood); Two Boats (c. 1928, oil on board); String of Boats (c. 1928, oil on board); "The Hold House Port Mear Square Island Port Mear Beach" (c. 1932?, oil on board); Two-Masted Ship (c. 1928, oil paint and graphite on paper).
Manchester (Manchester Art Gallery): Trawler and Pier (oil on card).
Middlesbrough (Institute of Modern Art): Boats (oil on canvas).
Orkney (The Pier Arts Centre): St Ives harbour: White sailing ship (c. 1934–1938, oil and pencil on card); White sailing ship – three masts (c. 1934–1938, oil on paper); Three ships and lighthouse (c. 1934–1938, oil and pencil on card); Headland with two three-masters (c.1934–1938, oil on card); Against Longships fog (c. 1934–1938, oil on card); Seascape (oil on plywood); St Ives harbour and Godrevy (c. 1934–1938, oil and pencil on card); Yacht, pink and green (c. 1934–1938, oil and pencil on card).
Oxford (Wolfson College, Univ. of Oxford): Boats (pencil and oil on paper); The Fleet at Sea (pencil, chalk and oil on paper)
Plymouth (The Box): Mount's Bay (oil on cardboard); Two-Masted Schooner, Ketch (oil on board).
Southampton (Southampton City Art Gallery): Boat on the Sea (1937, oil on card).
Swindon (Swindon Mus. and Art Gallery): Ship Amid Tall Waves (oil and pencil on cardboard).
Warwickshire (Compton Verney): Schooner Approaching a Harbour (c. 1930, oil on tin).
Wolverhampton (Wolverhampton Art Gallery): A Brig, Close to Shore (oil on board).
What is alfred wallis's Legacy & Influence?
Wallis’s art style influenced the St Ives Modernist movement and continues to inspire contemporary British artists. His works are celebrated for their authenticity and imaginative perspective, offering a timeless glimpse of early maritime life.
where is alfred wallis's cottage at st ives?
What Solo Exhibitions did Alfred Wallis have?
1931, Wertheim Gallery, London
1950, Retrospective Exhibition of Alfred Wallis, Bournemouth Arts Club
1959, Alfred Wallis, Studio 36, Penwith Society, St Ives
1962, Alfred Wallis, Piccadilly Gallery, London
1965, Alfred Wallis, Waddington Galleries, London
1966, Dartington Adult Education Centre, Devon
1968, Alfred Wallis, The Old Man of the Sea-Piece, Fleischer Anholt Gallery, Los Angeles
1968, Alfred Wallis, Penwith Gallery, St Ives
1968, Alfred Wallis, Tate Gallery, London (also presented at York City Art Gallery, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal)
1969, Alfred Wallis, City Art Gallery, Plymouth
1969, Alfred Wallis, La Boetie Gallery, New York City
1974, Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool
1974, Penwith Gallery, St Ives
1975, Alfred Wallis, Playhouse Gallery, Harlow
1976, Bath Academy of Art
1977, Bede Gallery, Jarrow
1980, Fermoy Art Gallery, Norfolk
1983, Alfred Wallis, Penwith Gallery, St Ives
1985, Alfred Wallis, 1855-1942, Mercury Gallery, Edinburgh
1992, Alfred Wallis, 1855-1942, Mercury Gallery, London
1996, Wallis & The Sea, Bede Gallery, Jarrow
1996, Alfred Wallis, Gallery Kajikawa, Japan
1997, Alfred Wallis, Kapil Jariwala Gallery, London
2007, Alfred Wallis: Artist & Mariner, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, Japan
2014, In Focus: Alfred Wallis, Hastings Contemporary
2015, Alfred Wallis, Modern Art, London
2018, Alfred Wallis from The Collection of the Late Ray Hughes, Mayor Gallery, London
2020, Alfred Wallis Rediscovered, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
2021, Alfred Wallis: Artist & Mariner, The MAC, Belfast
what Group Exhibitions did Alfred Wallis have?
1929, 9th Exhibition of the Seven and Five Society, Arthur Tooth & Sons, London
1934–6, Wertheim Gallery, London
1938, Unprofessional Painting, Wertheim Loan Collection (touring)
1941, Modern Primitives: Artists of the People, MoMA, New York City
1945, Modern Primitives, MoMA, New York City
1948, Sunday Painters, Hanover Gallery, London
1949, First Exhibition of the Penwith Society of Arts, Public Hall, Penwith Society, St Ives
1951, Fifteen Artists & Craftsmen from Around St Ives, Mansard Gallery, London
1952, Exhibition of Sunday Painters, Museum Am Ostwall, Germany
1953, Personal Choice, Wakefield City Art Gallery
1954-5, XXVth Anniversary Exhibition Paintings from the Museum Collection, MoMA, New York City
1954, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
1963-4, The Englishness of English Painting, Crane Kalman Gallery, London
1966, Ben Nicholson, Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis, Crane Kalman Gallery, London
1968, Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis, Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne
1973, Alfred Wallis and Elizabeth Allen, Crane Arts, London
1974, Art Then: Eight English Artists, 1924-40, The Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh
1974, Art and Life: 1920-1931, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
1977, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
1980, Ship-Shape 1880-1980, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and Museum, Swansea
1984, Groups VII, Waddington Galleries, London
1985, St Ives 1939-64: Twenty-Five Years of Painting and Pottery, Tate Gallery, London
1987, Alfred Wallis, Christopher Wood, Ben Nicholson, Pier Arts Centre, Orkney (touring)
1989, St Ives, Hyogo Museum of Modern Art, Japan
1989, A Century of Art in Cornwall 1889-1989, County Hall, Truro
1990, Kyoto Art Centre, Japan (touring)
1992, Artists from Cornwall, Royal West Academy, Bristol
1992, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
1993, The St Ives School, Tate St Ives
1995, Gasworks to Gallery: The Story of St Ives, Tate St Ives
1995, Alfred Wallis and Patrick Hayman, Crane Kalman Gallery, London
1998, Sea Dreams, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath (touring)
1999, Two painters: Alfred Wallis & James Dixon, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (touring)
2000, The Raw and the Cooked, MoMA, New York City
2001, The Naïve Painters, Journey to a Lost Paradise (Die Naive, Aufbruch ins verlorene Paradies), Vienna Kunsthaus (including around 200 works from the collection of the Museum Charlotte Zander, Bönnigheim)
2008, Glossolalia: Languages of Drawing, MoMA, New York City
2009, Upside Down / Inside Out, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
2009, Summer Season 2009, Tate St Ives
2010, Sea Fever, Southampton Art Gallery
2011, Alfred Wallis and Ben Nicholson, Compton Verney, Warwickshire
2012, Accidental Genius: Art from the Anthony Petullo Collection, Milwaukee Art Museum, WI
2013, The Radev Collection: Bloomsbury and Beyond, Falmouth Art Gallery
2013, Songs of Innocence and Experience, Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh
2014, British Folk Art, Tate Britain, London
2014, Art and Life, Dulwich Picture Gallery
2015, British 20th-century Art, Crane Kalman Gallery, London
2018, The Englishness of English Painting Part III, Crane Kalman Gallery, London
2022, Looking East: St Ives Artists and Buddhism, 3812 Gallery, Hong Kong (touring)
2025, St Ives & Modern British 2025, Belgrave St Ives, Cornwall
where can i find out more?
For more in-depth insights into Alfred Wallis’s life and work, you can buy the biography directly from the official shop
Watch videos featuring Alfred Wallis's life and art