Wallis is now recognised as one of the most original British artists of the twentieth century: the directness of his 'primitive' vision and the object-like quality of his paintings were highly influential in the development of British modernism. This book revises previous accounts of Wallis's life in the light of new research and, for the first time, discusses the development of his painting over seventeen years of activity. It also looks at the mythology that quickly grew up around Wallis and at the sustained interest in the irascible eccentric whose work affected a generation of British artists.
