James Lloyd

(1905 – 1974)

“Like Wallis, like Scottie Wilson, James Lloyd painted flat on the kitchen table. But unlike Wallis, Lloyd didn’t move around the table to paint objects as if everything was observed from the same angle. Now was his world entirely imaginary like Scottie’s; he was a relist in the sense the he did aim, although at times approximately, at depth and perspective. He was, however, completely obsessive: everything he painted was build up from a series of dots; a compulsive, infinitely painstaking method of painting that could be compared to Wilson’s innumerable penstrokes.”

Extract from “A Tribe of One, Great Naive Painters of the British Isles” by George Melly

Lloyd’s work is beginning to once again be reappraised. As Eric Lister said ‘The passing of Lloyd was like the closing of a chapter. No Alfred Wallis. No Lloyd. (And now no Lowry). A Gotterdammerung. Of his generation, he was the most important naive artist living and working in Britain’.
20th Century British Naive and Primitive Artists, Eric Lister & Sheldon Williams.

Collections: 

His work has been bought by the Tate, and is in their permanent Collection.

 

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