The The Alfred Wallis Factor: Conflict in Post-War St Ives Art

Since his death in 1942, St Ives has become marinated in the spirit of the naïve 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.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Foreword by Alan Livingston Introduction Part 1: Alfred Wallis and the St Ives Milieu 1. Little Park Owles 2. The Market Garden 3. Temperamental Guests 4. Dunluce 5. The Alfred Wallis Factor 6. The Naum Gabo Factor Part 2: Alfred Wallis: Final Days 7. The Workhouse 8. The Borlase Smart Link 9. Saved from a Pauper's Grave 10. Gabo's Grudge against Nicholson 11. Nicholson is Side-lined by Stokes and Gabo 12. Alfred Wallis's Grave Part 3: The Birth of the Alfred Wallis Factor 13. Berlin takes Alfred Wallis to Normandy 14. A Truce - of Sorts 15. The Harry Rountree Factor 16. The Further 'Voyages of Alfred Wallis' 17. The Tower 18. The New Gallery 19. Berlin and Lanyon: A Cautious Meeting Part 4: Power Struggles 20. King Penguin 21. Gudio Morris and The Latin Press 22. Anthony Froshaug Arrives 23. Gunpowder Plot 24. Turmoil at Little Park Owles 25. A Chilly Winter 26. A Special Crypt Exhibition 27. The Second Annual Crypt Exhibition Part 5. Discord, Disunity and Disbandment 28. The Saga of the Red Lion 29. The Red Lion Emerges 30. Ructions at STISA's AGM 31. The Third Annual Crypt Exhibition 32. Dissent in the Ranks 33. Lanyon in a Confrontational Mode 34. The Alfred Wallis Factor, Yet Again 35. The First Penwith Gallery 36. Munnings Shoots STISA in the Foot 37. The Discordant 'ABC' Rule Part 6. The End of One Era and the Forging of a New 38. The Penwith Society's Inaugural Exhibition 39. The Pendulum Swings Again 40. Lanyon is Taken to Task 41. Queen Jackdaw 42. Festival of Britain Plans 43. Repercussions of the 'ABC' Rule 44. The Penwith Society's Spring Exhibition, 1950 45. The 'ABC' of Art Part 7. The Final Chapters 46. Lyrics from Nancledra 47. The Cry of Stinking Fish 48. Berlin Moves Out 49. Festival of Britain Year 50. Cuckoo Town 51. Crescendo 52. The Circus Makes Ready to Leave 53. Lanyon's Lonely Stance 54. The New Forest Notes Bibliography Index

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).

Review :
"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