NO. 6 WOODEN BOX

Alfred Wallis painted several ships on a wooden box sent to him by Ben Nicholson. He left one side blank, writing to Nicholson, “i Thought it not nessery To paint it all around so i never Don it”.

As this letter is held in Kettle’s Yard Archive and starts “Dear Sir”, it is thought to have been written to Jim Ede, and is often quoted as Wallis’s explanation for his practise of leaving areas of cardboard unpainted.

However, at that time Ede had been granted sick leave from the National Gallery and had already departed for a period of rest in Spain. Other letters confirm that Wallis is referring to the box, which was one of several wooden objects he was sent by Nicholson to paint on in 1929.

Abridged excerpt from Alfred Wallis Child Pauper To Artistic Luminary.