Tate St Ives’ current exhibition taps into a number of popular current interests in art and culture – women’s art, Surrealism, esotericism – but the title is apt since Colquhoun’s artistic approaches sit across and between many related but distinct fields which rose and fell during her lifetime.
Consequently, her work sits in a liminal position, both in terms of the philosophy behind it and the work she produced. She researched widely in esoteric and mystic thought, affiliating herself with a number of organisations but ultimately eschewing pre-existing schools of thought for her own, unique philosophy. In some ways she reminds me of William Blake in her approach to both philosophical thought and artistic approach: I must create my own system, or be enslaved by another man’s.
This exhibition does a great job of exploring Colquhoun’s affiliation to and engagement with different schools of thought both artistic and esoteric throughout her life. The earliest paintings we see offer a unique, Modernist take on biblical scenes – Death of the Virgin (1931), Aaron Meeting Moses (1932) and Song of Songs (1933) – all of which ask more questions than they answer, offering not closed, devout religious scenes but instead paintings which seem to be exploring the limits of what is possible and acceptable. In these as in other works, especially Marlowe’s Faust (1930, above) with its double enclosure and presentation as theatre, the theatrical construction of the picture makes it clear that what we are viewing is not a view of how something might have been, but a pictorial essay presenting us with a staged moment in which the viewer is part of an intentional audience. The significance of her theatrical approach is underlined by the inclusion of designs from productions Colquhoun was involved in at Cheltenham School of Art. These early works are Surreal and of their time – oils which have the translucence of watercolour, sparse images with angled planes and a focused absence of realism.
I particularly enjoyed seeing Colquhoun’s uncanny, sexualised flowers and vegetation, with their tension between simplicity and complexity, their florid, unchaste blooming and their languid decay as they begin to drop their petals. After these, her work becomes more abstract, allowing the viewer to intuit the shapes and their meanings. The sections are themed by her many esoteric approaches and each offers an introduction to, for example, the Golden Dawn or Kabbalah. Her range and variety in paintings is fascinating: from womblike, dreamy images, such as Attributes of the Moon (1947), using her own process of decalcomania (in which prints are taken from wet paint) to the excitement of Battle Fury of Cuchullin (1949, below), indicating her Celtic interests, her interests in human life, forms, thoughts and myths are beautifully represented through her abstract works.
It struck me that there are some interesting parallels between her work and that of earlier artist Evelyn de Morgan – not only did they both attend the Slade School of Art, and were both trailblazing, independent women in the art world, they both also shaped their art to their beliefs, both feminist and esoteric. Both were interested in automatic writing and drawing processes, for example, channelling the unconscious, and I noticed there are some similarities of structure and colour as well as theme and form in their works.
My particular interest in Colquhoun’s work is in her mystical depictions of the Cornish landscape, particularly in Lamorna, where she lived. She takes the stone circles, such as the Merry Maidens, as a starting point and constructs her paintings around them, adding fountains of light, connecting lines and other symbols. I love the works where she draws women in the stones – trapped according to the mythology of girls turned to stone.
To unpick Colquhoun’s philosophy is extraordinarily complicated, but there is so much beauty and originality in her work that it’s a rewarding and enjoyable (and occasionally comical) exercise to let the images wash over you, see how they make you feel and what your eye and brain see in them. For me it was an especially pleasurable experience to visit the exhibition on International Women’s Day with friends.
