Alfred Wallis, 
British 1855-1942 - 
Untitled (Harbour View); 
oil on board, bears inscription on...

Alfred Wallis, 
British 1855-1942 - 

Untitled (Harbour View); 

oil on board, bears inscription on the reverse of the frame 'Robin from Jim Ede 1936 Painting by Alfred Wallis, 35.5 x 50.5 cm 

Provenance: 
with Jim Ede (according to the inscription on the reverse of the frame); 
Private Collection, gifted by the above in 1936 and thence by descent 

Note: 
the pencil inscription on the back of the frame bears a strong similarity to examples of Jim Ede’s handwriting found in the Kettle’s Yard Archive. The frame is also typical of the type of frame Ede used during this period. 

This wonderful and highly characteristic work by Wallis has been in the same private collection for many decades, unseen on the public market. Muriel 'Robin' Rate married Etienne Amyot in 1939. He was a gifted concert-pianist and worked as a music consultant to Sir George Barnes (1904-1960), helping to start the BBC Third Programme (today's BBC Radio 3) at the end of the war. The Amyots moved in artistic circles that included the playwright Noel Coward. 

The paintings apparent simplicity and highly evocative use of flattened form and heightened colour demonstrate why the artist was such a major influence on the early British Modernists, Ben Nicholson, Winifred Nicholson and Christopher Wood. These artists in turn introduced Wallis to curator, writer and owner of Kettle's Yard, Jim Ede, in the 1930s. The pair became friendly, forming a regular correspondence and with Ede buying many of his works. Their relationship was the subject of an exhibition at Kettle's Yard in 2020-21, 'Alfred Wallis Rediscovered'. 

With thanks to Robert Jones, author of 'Alfred Wallis: Artist and Mariner', for his assistance with the cataloguing of this lot.