FROM THE PUBLISHER

Alfred Wallis, a fisherman, began to paint in the 1920s - strange, brilliant pictures of ships and the sea. In 1928 he was discovered by Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood and for the rest of his life, attacked by periods of madness, he painted furiously. In Matisse's War, Peter Everett explored the psyche of one of the most celebrated painters of our age. Here he performs a similar feat for an artist who knew no fame in his lifetime but whose paintings have found vast popularity since his death.

SYNOPSIS

Born in 1855, Alfred Wallis died in a workhouse in 1942. A mariner since his boyhood, he began to paint in the 1920s—strange, primitive, brilliant pictures of ships and the sea. In 1928, he was discovered in St. Ives by Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood, and for the rest of his life, alone in his tiny cottage, attacked by periods of madness, he painted furiously. In this imaginative tour de force, Everett gives voice to this famously “naïve” artist, spinning tales of the sea and of old St. Ives, capturing in words the very worlds that Wallis depicted in ship’s paint on scraps of cardboard.

FROM THE CRITICS

Independent

A delightful book… vivid, direct and modest.

Financial Times