Alfred Wallis, son of Charles and Jane Wallis was born 18th August 1855. He apprentices to a basket maker before becoming a mariner in the merchant service. Marrying Susan Ward in 1876, the family moved to St. Ives in 1880 where Alfred set up his buisiness "Wallis, Alfred, Marine Stores Dealer. It was after the death of his wife in 1922 that Wallis took up painting. His art became a prolific example of the nastyle, and it was only a few years after he started painting when Ben Nicholson and Kit Wood discovered his work. Wallis was propelled into a circle of some of the most progressive artists working in Britain in the 1930s. The influence, however, was all one way; Wallis continued to paint as he always had, and died a pauper in Madron Workhouse in 1942.