Alfred Wallis (British, 1855-1942)
Fishing Boat with Black Sky
signed 'A. WALLIS' (upper right)
oil and pencil on card
18.4 x 46.7 cm. (7 1/4 x 18 3/8 in.)
Footnotes:
Provenance
Sven Berlin, from whom acquired by
Elizabeth Leach (Bernard Leach's daughter-in-law), thence by family descent to the present owner
Private Collection, U.K.

The present, and preceding two lots, were formerly in the collection of Sven Berlin before passing directly into the family of Bernard Leach. Both men were front and centre within the St Ives circle of creatives and their influence on contemporary and later artists, ceramicists and collectors cannot be overstated. Berlin was a dancer, painter and author, who published the first biography on Wallis, 'Primitive', in 1949. Leach, together with Shoji Hamada, founded the Leach Pottery in 1920 which remains, to this day, one of the most respected potteries in the world and is widely considered as the birthplace of British Studio pottery.

At the end of the 1920s, a sudden interest in the work of Alfred Wallis coincided with a revival of arts and craft traditions and Wallis' paintings and Leach's pots shared an authenticity and immediacy that the young Herbert Read famously hailed as a vital 'truth to materials'. The importance of place and a focus on local traditions were common to both men, an aesthetic that was reassuringly familiar yet freshly expressed. The Leach pottery provided employment for significant names of the period, including Patrick Heron, and became a centre for social and professional exchange among the St Ives set but it was Sven Berlin, in particular, who formed a strong bond with the family.

An opportunity arose for Berlin to work evenings at the Pottery to earn some extra money and before meeting the master, he met his son David who was living in Carbis Bay with his wife Elizabeth. They became close and would walk home together - 'in a very short time, the Leach Pottery became like a second home for Berlin' (David Wilkinson, The Alfred Wallis Factor. Conflict in Post-War St Ives Art, The Lutterworth Press, Cambridge, 2017, p.17) and he 'frequently spent the evenings in conference with Bernard and David Leach, sitting round the fireplace alongside their apprentices' (Op.Cit., p.46). Indeed, Berlin temporarily entrusted his beloved collection of Wallis paintings to Bernard's safekeeping when he went off to war and on Wallis' death in 1942, it was Bernard who made the tomb decoration for his grave - a series of glazed tiles depicting a tiny, lone figure entering a lighthouse. Elizabeth Leach, David's wife, acquired the present work (together with Lots 1 and 2) directly from Berlin for £1 each and they have remained in the Leach family until now.

Wallis's time at sea was spent in sailing vessels, but during his lifetime he witnessed the last days of commercial sailing ships as they were replaced by steamships. Many of the paintings acquired from Wallis were given titles by the purchasers rather than by Wallis himself and the subject was often mistakenly identified. This may be the case in Fishing Boat with Black Sky as the vessel depicted is very similar to the steamships that appear in other paintings by him. Wallis perfectly captures the power and movement of the single steamship using directional brushwork and rich impasto to depict the icy blue sea she cuts through at pace. Steam from the rear funnel trails behind in her wake and white surf is churned up at the bow with the speed of her passage. A small lifeboat and seven crew members can be seen on deck, all bravely facing into the wind and set against a moody horizon.