Ithell Colquhoun
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Surrealist painter and author. She was born in Shillong
Shillong
-Connectivity:Although well connected by road, Shillong has no rail connection and a proper air connection. Umroi Airport exists but has only limited flights.-Roadways:Shillong is well connected by roads with all major north eastern states...
, Eastern Bengal and Assam
Eastern Bengal and Assam
Eastern Bengal and Assam was a province of British India, constituted of the eastern portion of the erstwhile province of Bengal and the Chief Commissioner's province of Assam. The new province came into being on 16th October 1905, following a partition of Bengal. The Bengali Hindu people agitated...
, British India. From the 1930s to her death, her work was exhibited widely in Britain and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
She studied at the Slade School of Art in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and later travelled to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to study the Surrealist masters, especially Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
. However she was actually expelled from the London Surrealist Group for not giving her unconditional support to E.L.T. Mesens in 1940.
She married Toni del Renzio
Toni del Renzio
Antonino Romanov del Renzio dei Rossi di Castellone e Venosa , an artist and writer of Italian and Russian parentage, was leader of the British Surrealist Group for a period....
in 1943 and was divorced by 1948.
Best known for her paintings, Colquhoun invented new Surrealist techniques
Surrealist techniques
Surrealism in art, poetry, and literature uses numerous techniques and games to provide inspiration. Many of these are said to free imagination by producing a creative process free of conscious control. The importance of the unconscious as a source of inspiration is central to the nature of...
, including graphomania, stillomania, and parsemage. She was also an author, playwright, and poet.
Throughout her life she was deeply interested in the occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
, especially the Kabbalistic
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
tree of life
Tree of life
The concept of a tree of life, a many-branched tree illustrating the idea that all life on earth is related, has been used in science , religion, philosophy, mythology, and other areas...
. Her early membership to the Golden Dawn
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a magical order active in Great Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which practiced theurgy and spiritual development...
was rejected, but she later became a member of the Typhonian O.T.O, another prominent occult order.
Bibliography includes The Sword of Wisdom, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1975, which was the first book-length biography of Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers
Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers
Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers , born Samuel Liddell Mathers, was one of the most influential figures in modern Occultism...
. It remains the longest single work specifically focused on Mathers. She also published an occult novel, The Goose of Hermogenes. A recent book of her Collected Magical Writings has been published posthumously.
Colquhoun died of heart failure in the Menwinnion Country House Hotel, Lamorna, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
on April 11, 1988. It is frequently written that she died in a fire at her studio, but this was not so.