Alfred Wallis

Alfred Wallis (1855–1942) was a Cornish painter whose images of ships, harbours and the coast around St Ives became an important part of the history of modern British art. Entirely self-taught, he began painting late in life and worked with a directness and economy that strongly appealed to a younger generation of modernist artists.

Born in Devonport, Wallis went to sea as a young man and later worked as a fisherman and marine scrap merchant. He settled in St Ives in 1890 and began painting after the death of his wife in 1922. Using household paint on pieces of cardboard, wood and other found supports, he painted from memory rather than direct observation, recording the ships, fishing boats and coastal scenes he had known throughout his working life.

In 1928 Wallis was discovered by Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood while they were staying in St Ives. Both artists were struck by the immediacy of his paintings and by his disregard for conventional perspective and scale. Nicholson in particular became a strong supporter of Wallis’s work, helping to bring it to the attention of collectors and artists beyond Cornwall.

Wallis’s paintings often give greater scale to the elements he considered most important, whether a ship, a lighthouse or a stretch of coastline. Buildings, vessels and headlands are arranged according to memory and experience rather than conventional pictorial perspective, giving the works a highly personal sense of place.

Although admired by a number of artists during his lifetime, Wallis achieved little financial success and died in the Madron Workhouse in 1942. His reputation grew substantially after his death, and he came to be recognised as a key figure in the story of St Ives modernism. He is buried in Barnoon Cemetery in St Ives beneath a tiled grave made by Bernard Leach.

The Redfern Gallery has long exhibited and dealt in Wallis’s work as part of its commitment to Modern British art and the history of St Ives. His paintings have featured in numerous Redfern exhibitions, including recent surveys of Modern British art and the gallery’s 2026 exhibition St Ives at The Redfern.