Walter Battiss - artist and ruler of a kingdom

In the town of Somerset East in South Africa, the Walter Battiss museum houses a collection of the artist's works including some pieces from the imaginary island of "Fook" which he created and ruled over. What an exuberant personality this man had! Here are pictures of the cloaks he designed and made to wear while he was ruler, of the tapestry created from one of his paintings, and of some of his pictures. I love the one of a steam engine, and the one of the blocks of colour looks just like a patchwork.

Battiss is one of South Africa's best known painters. He wrote books about and used paintings from cave walls in his own pictures, and developed his very own, particular style of painting incorporating those elements. It would have been fun to meet him.