Two-Masted Ship - Alfred Wallis

A maritime scene by Cornish artist Alfred Wallis, featuring a two-masted ship and lighthouse rendered in his signature naïve, non-perspectival style.

Alfred Wallis, a retired Cornish fisherman, began painting in his late sixties following the death of his wife. Working primarily on salvaged cardboard scraps and discarded packaging, he utilised whatever materials were at hand, including ship paint and household oil colours. His approach to composition ignores traditional perspective, favouring a conceptual arrangement where the size of objects relates to their importance rather than their distance from the viewer.

This work depicts a two-masted vessel navigating near a lighthouse. The ship dominates the frame, its sails rendered in muted ochre tones against a dark hull. The sea is represented by rhythmic, horizontal brushstrokes in shades of blue and grey, suggesting the movement of water without attempting realistic depth. The lighthouse stands as a simplified vertical form, balancing the composition. Wallis often painted from memory, drawing upon his years of experience at sea to capture the essence of maritime life.

His lack of formal training allowed him to bypass academic conventions, resulting in a direct and unrefined aesthetic. This style attracted the attention of Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood, who visited St Ives in 1928 and recognised the authenticity in his work. Wallis did not consider himself an artist in the professional sense, but rather a man recording his recollections of the sea. His output remains a distinct example of British folk art, characterised by its economy of means and honest observation of the Cornish coast.