Landscape with Two Large Trees and Houses - Alfred Wallis

A striking example of Alfred Wallis's naïve style, featuring two dominant trees framing a pair of houses on a raw cardboard ground.

Alfred Wallis, a Cornish fisherman turned painter, produced this work during his later years in St Ives. Wallis began painting in his seventies, often using scavenged materials such as cardboard boxes and discarded scraps of paper. His lack of formal training resulted in a distinct visual language, characterised by a rejection of traditional perspective and a focus on the essential forms of his subjects.

In this composition, two imposing, dark tree trunks dominate the foreground. They act as a frame for the domestic structures situated behind them. The houses are rendered with simple geometric shapes, reflecting the artist's direct approach to his surroundings. Wallis frequently used a limited palette, often dictated by the materials he had available. Here, the raw, tan surface of the cardboard serves as the ground, providing a neutral tone that contrasts with the heavy, dark application of paint used for the trees.

The work displays the characteristic features of Wallis's output, including the use of pencil outlines to define shapes before filling them with paint. His signature, often placed prominently, appears at the top of the piece. The arrangement is flattened, prioritising the relationship between objects over spatial depth. This approach creates a sense of immediacy and honesty, qualities that attracted the attention of Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood when they discovered his work in 1928.

Wallis's paintings are not concerned with technical precision or academic rules. Instead, they offer a personal record of the environment he knew. The repetition of forms and the stark contrast between the dark trees and the lighter background elements create a rhythmic quality. This print captures the texture of the original cardboard support, allowing the viewer to appreciate the tactile nature of his process.