Alfred Wallis: Cornish Primitive - Couverture rigide

Mullins, Edwin

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1857932749 ISBN 13 : 9781857932744

Editeur : Pavilion, 1994

Synopsis

Alfred Wallis, a semi-literate Cornish rag-and-bone man, began to paint at the age of seventy after his wife's death, "for company" as he put it. Seventeen years later, in 1942, he died in a workhouse near Penzance. By then his achievements had been recognised by a mere handful of London painters and writers involved in the St lves artistic scene, and but for their patronage next to none of his pictures would have survived. Wallis's work is exceptional. Completely self-taught his canvasses portray the simple life of the then small fishing-village of St Ives; the sea, the sky, boats, lighthouses - these were the fundamentals of his uncomplicated life. His style reflects this simplicity, a style which was regarded as child-like in its day, but has since been reassessed by art critics and the value of its naive charms reappraised. This book is a tribute to Wallis's work. It includes 37 full colour plates reproducing his most vital images, with informative captions.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Wallis was a semi-literate Cornish fisherman, a little mentally unbalanced and largely deaf, who took up painting at the age of seventy, never having received any tuition. He painted largely out of loneliness, selling his pictures for a few pence to anyone who wanted them. He died in a workhouse above Penzance at the age of eighty-seven. Wallis used to paint old scraps of cardboard, most of them oddly shaped and supplied by the local grocer. He insisted on using ship s paint, a medium which he understood, and he employed very few colours. His subject was usually the sea and boats - scenes he had known during his early days as an Atlantic seaman and offshore fisherman. Painting was for him a dip into the memories of the past. Despite his lack of training, during his lifetime Wallis had a few distinguished patrons, for the most part artists, scholars and museum officials, among whom were Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and H. S. Ede (then at the Tate Gallery).

Biographie de l'auteur

Edwin Mullins is an extremely experienced and well- known author and broadcaster. He has contributed to a variety of art magazines and has been Art Critic of the Sunday Telegraph and Daily Telegraph.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Pavilion
• Date d'édition: 1994
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1857932749
• ISBN 13: 9781857932744
• Reliure: Relié
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Nombre de pages: 64
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible