In pictures: British Folk Art
- Published
The first major exhibition of British folk art opens at Tate Britain in London this week, featuring some of the UK's most unsung artists. This sign, for The Four Alls inn, was painted in oils by DJ Williams at Menai Bridge, circa 1850.
Alfred Wallis spent most of his working life as a fisherman but, by the time he was discovered in St Ives by Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood in 1928, he had become a rag and bone merchant. He began painting at the age of 70.
The Sunbeam was built in 1874 and scrapped in 1929. She was one of the first yachts to sail around the world. This picture was made by a gunner in the Royal Artillery.
Folk art is steeped in tradition and often created by self-taught artists and artisans - whose skills are taken for granted. The creator of this quilt is unknown.
This heart pincushion is on loan from the Beamish Museum in Durham. The exhibition hopes to bring the spotlight back to folk art, which has often been neglected in the story of British art.
George Smart was a tailor from Kent who created art from scraps of left-over cloth. He specialised in portraits of local 'characters' such as this postman, identified as Old Bright.
Objects on display include this rope seller's sign in the form of a sailor, as well as naive paintings and tin trays covered with ornate fragments of crockery.
This intricate sculpture of a cockerel was made out of mutton bones by French prisoners of war during the Napoleonic wars. The exhibition runs from 10 June to 31 August, 2014.