If you’ve never heard of Derwent Lees, you’re hardly the Lone Ranger. Named after the river he was born beside, Derwent was involved in the greatest artistic revolution of the last century. Born in Clarence, Tasmania, he was sent to study at the prestigious Slade School in London after he lost his leg in a riding accident. Eventually, he became a lecturer and help shape Britain’s most important generation of artists. Whilst in London, he and his friends enthusiastically embraced a new type of art and the decadence that came with it. Derwent was, most probably, a schizophrenic, and his career was cut short by his illness. He is, without doubt, the greatest one-legged schizophrenic artist this country has ever produced.
To the Far-Off Sea is a fictional account of his life, his brutal descent into madness and tragic death in an asylum.