Painter of landscapes and abstracts, born in London but brought up in Ditchling, Sussex. His father was a doctor and Wells qualified in medicine at University College Hospital, 1925–30. While a medical student he studied in evenings at St Martin’s School of Art, 1927–8, on a visit to Cornwall meeting the artists Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood. After working in a hospital for six years, Wells had a medical practice in the Isles of Scilly, 1936–45, when he moved to Newlyn and began painting full-time in Stanhope Forbes’ old studio. Wells had first showed in the Daily Express Young Artists Exhibition in 1927; he had his first one-man show at Lefevre Gallery in 1946. In that year he was co-founder of the Crypt Group in St Ives, three years later helping to found the Penwith Society.