Alfred Wallis

Adrian Stokes
Peter Silver
Sale, Sotheby's London, 1st May 1991, lot 45, where acquired by the present owner

London, Tate, Alfred Wallis, 30th May - 30th June 1968, cat. no.127, where lent by Mrs Adrian Stokes, with Arts Council tour to York City Art Gallery, York, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen and Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal.

George Melly, A Tribe of One; Great Naive Artists of the British Isles, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1981, p.25, illustrated.

The work is float-mounted and adhered to a backing card at all four corners, revealing an unevenly cut board, with scuffing and slight loss to the corners and extreme edges, most noticeable in the top right and left corners and inherent with the nature of the artist's technique. There is an area of very slight lifting to the card and paint in the centre of the top edge. There is minor surface dirt and flecks of studio detritus visible, with a very minor possible scratch running vertically down the lower left quadrant, only visible upon very close inspection with extremely fine scuffs appearing elsewhere. There are signs of very slight abrasion to one or two of the raised globules of impasto, again only visible upon very close inspection. There is an extremely small spot of possible loss to the very top of the front mast. This excepting the work appears in very good overall condition. Ultraviolet light reveals areas of fluorescence to the sails which appear in keeping with the nature of the artist's materials. Housed behind glass in a thin varnished wooden frame, float-mounted against a white backing card. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The first owner of this work was the art critic and collector Adrian Stokes. He was an important early supporter of Wallis's work alongside other significant figures and critics of avant-garde British Art, including H.S. Ede, Herbert Read, Barbara Hepworth and the artists who discovered Wallis: Christopher Wood and Ben Nicholson. Stokes was one of the first art critics to write about Wallis’s work, including him in his important text on modernism titled Colour and Form in which he singles out Wallis’s unique use of colour:

`Alfred Wallis, inspirer of Christopher Wood in his last period, often paints his seas with earth colours, white and black … For him the colour of the sea is less determined by its glassy surface that reflects the sky.  The surface of his sea, seen best on grey days, is the showing also of what lies under it…’ (Adrian Stokes, Colour and Form, 1937, pp. 64-65).  

In Two Masted Schooner and a Lighthouse Wallis employs this purposely simple colour palette to create an expressive vision of the turmoil of the raging sea, capturing the force of the spray as it hits the lighthouse. The exposed areas of board, shape of the board, varying textures and shades of white bring the sea to life. The Schooner cuts through the churning sea and just visible are the delicately painted fish, captured mid-movement as they leap through the waves. It was this instinctive and untutored approach, producing images of such freshness and vitality, which resonated so strongly with the modern sensibilities of Stokes. Stokes was to support Wallis for the rest of his life, supplying painting materials when he moved to the workhouse in 1941, and Berlin credits him for organising Wallis’s funeral.  Stokes continued to be a key promoter of Wallis’s work after his death, donating Voyage to Labrador, an equally significant  work, to the Tate, London in 1958.