"John Ward's book is the first monograph to be published on the paintings of this important, but neglected artist. It includes careful analyses of all the paintings Dickinson considered his major ones and discussions of a wide range of his other work. Imagery, process, and pictorial structure are examined in terms of Dickinson's biography and training, his convictions and enthusiasms, the artistic traditions upon which he drew, and the effect of personal loss on his work. Materials studied in researching the book included fifty-six years of the artist's journals and several thousand pages of his letters."--Jacket.