Alfred Wallis paintings sail away

Two paintings by Alfred Wallis, the retired mariner and self-taught artist, lead a Modern and Contemporary Art Sale at Tenants Auctioneers recently. 

The sought-after artist, who is much celebrated for his naïve painting style that reflects his direct experience of the sea and fishing communities of Cornwall, was represented by two paintings in the sale. Sailboats and Fish fetched a hammer of £22,000, while Steamboats and Lighthouse sailed to £15,000.

Wallis, discovered in 1928 by two founding members of the St. Ives School, Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood, lived a life of near penury in the fishing village and eked a living selling his paintings. Both works in the sale were purchased by the vendor’s grandmother directly from the artist, following a prolonged stay in Carbis Bay, just east of Wallis’ home in St Ives. In order to help the elderly painter, and because they liked his work, they purchased several of his paintings. 

Leading a strong outing for Northern Art was “Lees Brook” by Helen Bradley, which sold for £15,000. At the age of 65, having dedicated her adult life to raising a family, Helen Layfield Bradley (1900-1979) reinvented herself as an internationally acclaimed artist. Using a soft yet colourful palette and simple two-dimensional figures, she illustrated short narrative accounts based on early childhood memories of growing up in the Edwardian era to show her grandchildren just how different the world was when she was a child. Representing the North, too, was “Diptychon”, a 1989 homemade print by the renowned David Hockney (b.1937), which sold for £7,500.  

One of the most interesting artists in the sale was the early 20th-century British female artist Madeline Green (1884-1947). Working at a time of significant social change, with shifting perceptions of gender roles, Green and her circle of sitters were concerned with the place of the female artist and her work explores the theme of identity. She used both herself and her close family members as sitters, in the case of the present works her sister, who is presented in more masculine dress, although it is impossible to say if this was out of necessity or a comment on gender roles. In the sale The Couple smashed its presale estimate to sell for £12,000, a notable price for the artist’s work.  

Also selling well were a number of mixed media sketches by Dame Laura Knight featuring the elaborately plumed horses from Bertram Mills Circus. Fascinated with the world of theatre, ballet, and the circus, Laura Knight encountered the famous Bertram Mills circus in 1920. She depicted the spectacular shows, characters, and the animals behind the scenes, having travelled with them for several weeks. Highlights of the collection included “Joey”, which sold for £1,300, and Circus Horse, which sold for £1,400. An interesting group of works by Patrick Procktor (1936-2003) sold well, too. The painter and printmaker was greatly inspired by his travels, and “Nasturtiums, Wusih” from his 1980 ‘The China Series’ of prints sold for £900, and “Cataract, Aswan” sold for £1,300.