Since his death in 1942, St Ives has become marinated in the spirit of the naive painter, Alfred Wallis. Naum Gabo, the Russian Constructivist, felt that Wallis's gift as an artist was that he never knew he was one. His unconventional approach and the innocence of his personal method of making art marked Alfred Wallis, even after his death, as a crucial figure in the modernist movement. The art scene in St Ives during World War II is depicted vividly in The Alfred Wallis Factor which illustrates the birth of modernism in the small fishing port in the far south-west of England. With dominant personalities like Sven Berlin, Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Adrian Stokes, Bernard Leach, Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and Patrick Heron, it was inevitable that personal relationships would both form and fracture. Though causes would range from the banal to the bizarre, David Wilkinson never loses focus on the high stakes for which these characters were playing: the creation of their work, and reputations, of lasting significance. Their passion was strong and their ambition even stronger. The Alfred Wallis Factor tells the story of this extraordinary painter's long-lasting influence on - and beyond - modernism: David Wilkinson expounds the events around and following the artist's death, assessing the roles of friends and rivals in making Alfred Wallis a benchmark of modern British art. The Alfred Wallis Factor is a comprehensive examination of a troubled era, in which life met war and changed the destiny of the art world.

About the Author
Before moving to St Ives in the early 1990s, David Wilkinson spent 30 years as a design and planning consultant in Berkshire. He has written extensively on late Victorian and Edwardian art and literature and has contributed to a number of books on St Ives art. His recent titles include ''Guy Thorne': C Ranger Gull: Edwardian Tabloid Novelist and his Unseemly Brotherhood' (2012), 'Arthur Greening: That Damned Elusive Publisher' (2016), 'The Death of a Hero: The Quest for First World War Poet Richard Aldington's Berkshire Retreat' (2016) and 'Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Sculptor: The London Years: The Narrative behind The Myth' (2017).

Reviews
"The Alfred Wallis Factor by David Wilkinson is the result of meticulous research..... [T]he 'hard yards' gained by the author will assist future researchers in their relentless quest to establish artistic quality, significance and influence." - Professor Alan Livingston, CBE "David Wilkinson gives a warts-and-all word picture of the post-war art scene in St Ives, just as it was.... [He] is to be praised for producing such a vivid, diverting, informative and surely definitive account ... Generously illustrated ... and profusely furnished with notes, this is a must-have book for everyone with an interest in the story of art in St Ives in particular, and that of Cornwall in general." - Frank Ruhrmund, The Cornishman, Sep 14, 2017 "As a social history of this segment of the art colony, it is unrivalled.... If you have any interest in this period of St Ives art, it is a book that you should own." - David Tovey, The Siren, Issue No 14, October 2017



Book Information
ISBN 9780718894979
Author David Wilkinson
Format Paperback
Page Count 318
Imprint Lutterworth Press
Publisher James Clarke & Co Ltd
Weight(grams) 488g