

A three-masted sailing ship in white and green sails moves through choppy water, painted in thick, rough brushstrokes on what appears to be a scrap of board or cardboard. The sky is gray-blue with patches of cream and ochre showing through, and a dark green landmass appears at the upper right. The rigging is drawn in dark lines over the paint. The surface is scratched, cracked, and weathered. Wallis was a retired Cornish fisherman and rag-and-bone man who began painting at seventy, after his wife died, using ship's paint on scraps of cardboard and driftwood. He was discovered in 1928 by Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood, who walked past his open door in St Ives and saw his paintings pinned to the walls. He had no training and no interest in the art world. He painted the boats and harbors he remembered from his working life, and the paintings have a directness and material honesty that trained artists spent careers trying to achieve.

See Also

Continuity
Arthur Dove

Paysage à Cassis
André Derain

Étude pour "L'Âge d'Or"
André Derain

Paysage de l'Île-de-France
André Derain

Mother and Child
Jankel Adler

Untitled (IV)
Arthur Dove

Untitled (III)
Arthur Dove

Untitled, 1936
Arthur Dove

Untitled
Arthur Dove

Untitled V
Arthur Dove

Untitled II
Arthur Dove

Snow on Ice
Arthur Dove

Land and Seascape
Arthur Dove

Pottery Still Life
Josef Scharl

Still Life
Josef Scharl

Ascending Moon (I)
Josef Scharl

Sculptor's Studio
Josef Scharl

Five Extended Figures
Sophie Taeuber-Arp

Nature morte aux poissons
Youla Chapoval

Bird Motif Composition (detail)
Sophie Taeuber-Arp

Still Life with Lacquer Screen
Francis Cadell

The Red Chair (The Blue Jug)
Francis Cadell

Fire in the Evening
Paul Klee

Odalisque with Red Trousers
Henri Matisse

Forest of Fontainebleau
Henri Matisse

The Orange Christ
Maurice Denis

Meditation
Alexej von Jawlensky

Rose and Locust Stump
Arthur Dove

Departure from Three Points
Arthur Dove

Venus of Kirkcudbright
Jankel Adler

Crimean Bride
Lola Liivat

Untitled Compositions (c. 1921)
Lyubov Popova

Composition (1917)
Lyubov Popova

Nudes
Henry Lyman Saÿen

Black Moon
Karl Hofer

Deep Twilight, Pyrenees
James Dickson Innes

Roses
Vincent Van Gogh

Spreng=Holz
Paul Klee

Le Repos
André Derain

Pond in Sunlight
Arthur Dove

Composition near a workshop
Marek Włodarski

Construction
László Moholy-Nagy

Buffalo Bull, Grazing on the Prairie
George Catlin

Porteuse de Vase
Sophie Taeuber-Arp (Swiss, 1889–1943)

View of the Vineyard Sovkhoz
Lola Liivat

Red Madras Headdress
Henri Matisse

Untitled (Textile Design No. I)
Frances Hodgkins

Grüne Frau mit gelbem Hut I
Hermann Stenner

Heuschrecken (Komposition)
Christian Rohlfs

Seascape
John Fraser

Fish Catch and Dawes Point, Sydney Harbour
John William Lewin

Coastal Scene with Fishing Boats
Stanhope Alexander Forbes

Arothron gillbanksii (Gillbanks' Globe Fish)
Frank H. Clarke

An Acarauna
Mark Catesby

After the Catching of Fish
Louis Artan

A Fish Buyers' Wharf
Harry Aiken Vincent

Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay
Martin Johnson Heade

Approaching Thunder Storm
Martin Johnson Heade

Approaching Storm, Beach near Newport
Martin Johnson Heade

Cutter Close Hauled in a Fresh Breeze
Charles Brooking

Approaching Storm (1938)
Robert P. Archer

Bay at the Sea with Rocks
Ernst Schiess

From Balestrand at the Sognefjord
Thomas Fearnley

Meeresstrand im Nebel
Caspar David Friedrich

Maine Coast
Frederic Edwin Church

Lesson Study on Jersey Coast
John La Farge

Morgennebel am Bodensee
Carl Hollmann

The Sea
Edward Moran

Sailing on a Stormy Sea
Franz Bischoff

Storm Clouds over the Sea
Jacob van Ruisdael

Storm Clouds
John Henry Twachtman

Surf and Fog, Monhegan, Maine
Frederick Judd Waugh

The Junction of the Thames and the Medway
J.M.W. Turner

The Fog Warning
Winslow Homer

Storm Sea
George Wesley Bellows

The Golden State Entering New York Harbor
Fitz Henry Lane
Our Process
Every piece in the archive goes through a deliberate process — part historian, part designer, part obsessive.
The thrill of the hunt
We pull from institutional archives, digitized collections, and the deep corners of the art world to find pieces that are both culturally and visually relevent, yet underexplored. We skip the hyper trendy pieces (looking at you, Matisse cutouts) in favor of niche work with a good story.
Context is everything
We dig into the provenance, history, and context around each piece — the artist, the period, the story that makes it worth living with. You don't have to be an art historian to appreciate knowing the who/what/why of a work of art, and it makes it that much more satisfying to live with every day.
Where a scan becomes a print
Institutional scans are often remarkable, but they're also imperfect: color casts from old photography, dust and scratches from the scanning bed, compression artifacts, uneven lighting across a large canvas. What we don't touch is the painting itself — the craquelure, the patina, the brushwork, the small marks of time that make a 200-year-old work look 200 years old. We restore the photograph of the painting, not the painting.
A careful eye
Color is adjusted with restraint. We reference historical materials when possible and avoid over-saturation or heavy-handed edits. The aim is a result that feels balanced, natural, and consistent with how the work was intended to be seen.
We don't do guesswork
Each piece is reviewed at print size to ensure clarity, contrast, and overall quality. Small issues become obvious at scale, so we take the time to catch them before anything is produced.

Common Questions
Giclée (zhee-clay) is a fine art printing process using archival pigment inks on museum-quality paper. The colors are richer, the detail is sharper, and the prints are rated to last 100+ years without fading. It's the same method used by galleries and museums for exhibition-quality reproductions.
All unframed prints are produced on heavyweight, acid-free fine art paper with a subtle matte finish.
Check the size guide on the Print + Frame guide page — it shows all available sizes to scale. General rule: go bigger than you think. For above a sofa, you want the art to be about two-thirds the width of the furniture below it.
Some cropping may occur depending on the aspect ratio of the original artwork and the size you select. Each size is adjusted differently—some preserve more of the original image, while others require a closer crop. We use our expertise to crop each piece in a way that maintains the integrity of the composition.
Our preview tool above gives a general sense of how the piece will look at different sizes, but it crops from the center and may not reflect the final composition exactly. If you’d like to confirm how a specific size will be cropped, feel free to reach out—we’re happy to help.
Our frames are solid oak or metal with a clean, modern profile. Oak frames are available in Natural Oak, Walnut, Black, and White. Metal frames are available in Gold, Silver, White, and Black. Matted options use an acid-free mat with a standard reveal. Every framed print arrives ready to hang. For frame dimensions and specs, please see our Print + Frame guide page.
Framed prints come with hanging hardware attached. Use two picture hooks for anything 18×24 or larger for the most secure hold. For unframed prints, we recommend taking them to a local frame shop — they'll cut a mat and mount it properly.
Orders are printed to order and typically ship within 3–5 business days. Delivery within the continental US usually takes an additional 3–4 business days.
We currently ship unframed prints internationally. Framed prints are only available within the US.
Reach out within 14 days and we'll take care of it. Please see our Shipping + Returns page for more information.
Because every print is made to order, we can't accept returns or exchanges. If you're unsure about sizing, check the size guide on the Framing page or get in touch — we're happy to help you decide before you buy.
