Austin Osman Spare had his career the wrong way round, beginning as a West End celebrity and ending up in an obscure South London basement. By the time he died, in 1956, he had been largely forgotten by the 'straight' art world, but since his death he has become a legendary figure, not just for his remarkable art but for his even more remarkable inner life as a twentieth century sorcerer and magical thinker.

Born in Smithfield in 1886, the son of a policeman, Austin Spare was hailed as a prodigy, genius, and all-round enfant terrible of the Edwardian art world.