Alfred Wallis
Pintant "per companyia" / Painting "for company"

St. Ives, c. 1928

Sailing ship and porpoises, n.d.

Saltash, 1928-1930

St. Ives Bay, 1931

“No poso colors que no pertanyen.
Crec que fan malbé els quadres.”
“I do not put colours that do not belong.
I think it spoils the pictures.”

Alfred Wallis

Plovia i feia molt de vent…. era un d’aquells dies anglesos grisos. A l’entrada vam deixar el paraigües de color verd caqui i les jaquetes i vam reposar en un banc de fusta de Kettle’s Yard. Crec que sabíem que necessitàvem establir un interval entre dues realitats.

Kettle’s Yard és un lloc petit i dolç, culte i silenciós entre esglésies i cottages a la ciutat de Cambridge, una joia per als sentits! Però aquest seria un altre post del meu blog…

Vam entrar i vam sentir de seguida la força dels dibuixos de Wallis, la seva manera d’expressar-se - gairebé sense adornar-se’n - i la seva màgia en els detalls, les línies i els colors conferien una vista fràgil però absoluta de la sala. Ens vam emocionar! I, després, vam anar desfent el fil i interpretant els context… la seva sutilesa, la seva perspectiva, la seva “facilitat” ens van enamorar i ens va captivar. Era tan fresc, tan bonic, tan innocent i tan tranquil que vam haver de recórrer la sala dues vegades… sincerament, crec que ha estat la millor descoberta dels meus confinaments!

Gràcies senyor Wallis!
Gràcies Sr. Ede!

-
Alfred Wallis va néixer a Devon el 1855 i va ser pescador i més tard comerciant de ferralla en St. Ives. Després de la mort de la seva esposa en 1922, es va dedicar a la pintura com a manera de combatre la solitud. Va ser descobert per Jim Ede, fundador de Kettle’s Yard. Era admirat per Ben Nicholson i Christopher Wood, que van conèixer la seva obra durant una visita a St. Ives el 1928 i la van incloure en l'exposició de la Seven & Five Society de 1929. Va morir en l'asil de pobres de Madron el 1942.

Els sues dibuixos i pintures expressius capten la immediatesa de les seves experiències directes amb la mar. Wallis va viure a Cornualles durant tota la seva vida, treballant en vaixells de pesca d'altura i després com a comerciant de ferralla marina. Es va dedicar a la pintura quan tenia més de setanta anys i sense cap formació, i va utilitzar aquesta sortida creativa com a mitjà per a escapar de l'aïllament i la solitud que sentia després de la defunció de la seva esposa. En el seu últim any de vida, Wallis va viure en un asil d'ancians i allí, amb els materials que li van regalar l'artista Ben Nicholson i el crític d'art Adrian Stokes, va continuar rememorant i dibuixant els seus records de la mar, la costa i el paisatge de Cornualles.

It was raining and windy.... it was one of those grey English days. We left our khaki green umbrellas and jackets at the entrance and rested on a wooden bench at Kettle's Yard. I think we knew we needed to establish an interval between two realities.

Kettle's Yard is a sweet little place, cultured and quiet between churches and cottages in the city of Cambridge, a jewel for the senses! But this would be another blog post...

We entered and immediately felt the strength of Wallis' drawings, his way of expressing himself - almost without embellishment - and his magic in the details, the lines and the colours gave a fragile but absolute view of the room. We were thrilled! And then we unravelled the thread and interpreted the context... his subtlety, his perspective, his "ease" made us fall in love and captivated us. It was so fresh, so beautiful, so innocent and so calm that we had to walk around the room twice... honestly, I think it was the best discovery of my confinements!

Thank you Mr. Wallis!
Thank you Mr. Ede!

-

Alfred Wallis was born in Devon in 1855 and was a fisherman and later a scrap metal merchant in St. Ives. After the death of his wife in 1922, he turned to painting as a way of combating loneliness. He was discovered by Jim Ede, founder of Kettle's Yard. He was admired by Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood, who became acquainted with his work during a visit to St. Ives in 1928 and included it in the Seven & Five Society exhibition of 1929. He died in Madron workhouse in 1942.

Wallis's expressive drawings and paintings capture the immediacy of her direct experiences of the sea. Wallis lived in Cornwall throughout his life, working on deep-sea fishing boats and later as a marine scrap merchant. He took up painting when he was over seventy and untrained, and used this creative outlet as a means of escaping the isolation and loneliness he felt after the death of his wife. In the last year of his life, Wallis lived in a nursing home and there, with materials given to him by the artist Ben Nicholson and the art critic Adrian Stokes, he continued to recall and draw his memories of the sea, the coast and the Cornish landscape.