NO. 5 THREE-FOOTED JAR

Alfred Wallis painted a two-masted topsail schooner sailing towards a lighthouse on this three-footed jar. Such jars were practical, everyday vessels, with short, sturdy legs that allowed them to stand securely in hearth ashes to heat food or boil water. Their rounded bodies and wide mouths made cooking easy, and they often had a simple rim for a lid.

I’ve always found it strange that Wallis’s habit of “painting on everything” is sometimes seen as a sign of oddness. To me, it feels like the instinct of a true artist, responding to form and surface with curiosity and pleasure.