Explore: Ithell Colquhoun

(1906 - 1988)

Ithell Colquhoun, painter and writer, was born in Assam, India, and studied at the Slade School, London. Between 1930 and 1940, she lived in London and Paris. For a period, she was closely involved with the British Surrealist movement, including writing Surrealist poetry in the 1940s. However as she became more drawn to esoteric and magic beliefs, she moved away from the Surrealists. In 1950 she settled in Cornwall near Penzance. This painting shows her technique, devised at the Slade, of ‘matching the drawing in monochrome with superimposed glazes of colour’.