Deliver Your News to the World

Ithell Colquhoun

Tate St Ives 1 Feb - 5 May 2025, Tate Britain 12 Jun - 19 Oct 2025


WEBWIRE
Ithell Colquhoun, Gorgon, 1946, Private Collection © Spire Healthcare, © Noise Abatement Society, © Samaritans
Ithell Colquhoun, Gorgon, 1946, Private Collection © Spire Healthcare, © Noise Abatement Society, © Samaritans

One of the most radical artists of her generation, Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988) was an important, but often overlooked figure in British Surrealism. Debuting at Tate St Ives in February 2025, and Tate Britain from June, this landmark exhibition will be the largest of Colquhoun’s work ever staged, featuring over 170 artworks and pieces of archival material including painting, drawing and writing; many of which have never been publicly exhibited. The exhibition will draw on Tate’s significant archive of the artist’s work, tracing Colquhoun’s evolution from her early work and engagement with the surrealist movement, to her fascination with the intertwining realms of art, sexual identity, ecology, magic and mysticism.

Following a loosely chronological path, the exhibition will map the influence of esoteric and surrealist concepts on the artist’s developing practice from the mid-1920s to the 1980s. Early paintings from her time at the Slade School of Fine Art will be presented, including Judith Showing the Head of Holofernes 1929, in which Colquhoun combines biblical subjects with subversive occultist elements, challenging social convention to express her own beliefs. Tate St Ives will present costume designs for the play The Bird of Hermes c. 1926, the first direct reference to occultist concepts in her practice, which communicated these ideas to a wider public.

The exhibition will explore Colquhoun’s visual and conceptual engagement with Surrealism in the 1930s and 40s. Botanical works such as Water-Flower 1938 will emphasise her evolving vision and interest in the uncanny. Colquhoun also became increasingly focused on representations of the human body through the surrealist ‘double image’ during this period, exemplified in Scylla (méditerranée) 1938, one of her most celebrated works, which merges the female form with the natural landscape. The exhibition will also offer the first chance to see Colquhoun’s storyboard for an unmade surrealist film titled Bonsoir 1939 in its entirety.

A turning point came in 1939 when she met Gordon Onslow Ford and Roberto Matta, who were using surrealist automatist techniques to create imagery through chance rather than conscious control, intended to mine both the human psyche and other metaphysical realms. This approach became central to the evolution of Colquhoun’s intertwining artistic and occultist practice during the early 1940s when she moved away from traditional painting techniques. Her influential essay The Mantic Stain,1949 explored the spiritual possibilities of automatism, and the exhibition will present a group of paintings made using the decalcomania technique, involving the pressing together of two surfaces covered with paint to create a mirror image produced without the intentional use of the artist’s hand. Works such as Attributes of the Moon 1947 and Gorgon 1946 will emphasise her preoccupation with channelling the spirit world and will be paired with their counterpart transfer papers for the first time to demonstrate Colquhoun’s process.

Colquhoun’s immersion in occultism developed increasingly into the 1940s, embracing ancient philosophical principles including alchemy, paganism, animism and mysticism, coupled with her individual ideas about gender fluidity and interest in harnessing a divine feminine power. Created for her own spiritual progression as well as for public display, her works in this period are full of magical symbolism, flowing energy channels and portals to extra dimensions through spatial diagrams called tesseracts. Other groups of works, such as a series entitled The Diagrams of Love 1940-2 reflect kabbalistic, tantric and alchemical ideas, portraying the merging of male and female forms to create an androgynous whole.

Colquhoun’s understanding of the world as a connected spiritual cosmos brought her to Cornwall from the early 1940s, where she deepened her creative explorations inspired by the region’s ancient landscape, Celtic mythologies, and neolithic monuments. Spending time between London and West Penwith, she acquired a studio in Lamorna in 1949 before settling in Paul. She published extensively: essays, Surrealist novels and atmospheric travelogues including The Living Stones: Cornwall in 1957. Colquhoun’s fascination with the mystic charge of Celtic lands will be foregrounded by visionary works of sacred sites and standing stone configurations in Cornwall, Ireland and Brittany such as Dance of the Nine Opals 1942, brought together in the exhibition for the first time.

The exhibition will culminate with a section showcasing Colquhoun’s enamel drip techniques which the artist created during the final years of her life. This will include designs for a set of ‘Taro’ cards, an innovative series often considered the finest synthesis of Colquhoun’s art and magical practice, in which she departed from figuration altogether.

Notes to Editors

Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds is in partnership with Lockton. With additional support from the Ithell Colquhoun Exhibition Supporters Circle, Tate International Council and Tate Members.

Ithell Colquhoun at Tate Britain runs in parallel with an exhibition of works by Edward Burra, offering visitors the chance to see two influential British artists with one ticket. Edward Burra and Ithell Colquhoun are in partnership with Lockton. Supported by the Edward Burra Exhibition Supporters Circle and Ithell Colquhoun Exhibition Supporters Circle. With additional support from Tate International Council and Tate Members.

At Tate St Ives the exhibition is curated by Katy Norris, Curator, Exhibitions and Displays, Tate St Ives with Emma Sharples, Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Researcher, in consultation with Dr Amy Hale, Honorary Research Fellow at Falmouth University, Professor Alyce Mahon, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at the University of Cambridge and Dr Richard Shillitoe, Independent Writer and Researcher.

At Tate Britain Ithell Colquhoun is curated by Dr Emma Chambers, Curator, Modern British Art, Tate Britain and Katy Norris, Curator, Exhibitions and Displays, Tate St Ives with Eliza Spindel, Assistant Curator, Tate Britain and Emma Sharples, Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Researcher, in consultation with Dr Amy Hale, Honorary Research Fellow, Falmouth University, Professor Alyce Mahon, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at the University of Cambridge and Dr Richard Shillitoe Independent Writer and Researcher.

Tate Members get unlimited free entry to all Tate exhibitions. Become a Member at tate.org.uk/members. Everyone aged 16-25 can visit all Tate exhibitions for £5 by joining Tate Collective. To join for free, visit tate.org.uk/tate-collective.

For press requests, email pressoffice@tate.org.uk or call +44(0)20 7887 8730.

To download press images, visit Tate’s Dropbox.

Listings information

Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds
1 Feb – 5 May 2025
Tate St Ives, Porthmeor Beach, Cornwall TR26 1TG
Open daily 10.00–17.20
Tickets available at tate.org.uk and +44(0)20 7887 8888
Free for Members. Join at tate.org.uk/members

Edward Burra - Ithell Colquhoun
13 June – 19 October 2025
Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG
Open daily 10:00 – 18:00
Tickets available at tate.org.uk and +44(0)20 7887 8888
Free for Members. Join at tate.org.uk/members

Related publications

Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds
Published 1 Feb 2025
Hardback £40, Paperback £32
240 pages

About Lockton
EJ Hentenaar, CEO of Lockton Europe, said ‘Lockton is delighted to support Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds, a landmark exhibition which explores themes of gender, sexuality, identity, and ecology. At Lockton, we are proud of our culture and commitments to embracing diversity and celebrating individuality with our clients, Associates, and communities. We are honoured to support art which champions these shared values of independence, diversity and inclusion.’

As the world’s largest independent insurance brokerage, Lockton is committed to service and empowered with a single-minded focus on delivering results for clients. Over 12,500 Associates across 140 locations provide 65,000 clients globally with creative solutions in risk management, insurance and employee benefits consulting. Lockton prides itself on being purposely unconventional, insatiably curious and uncommonly independent. Lockton is proud to support the arts and through a multi-year partnership with Tate’s exhibition and community programme which champions these qualities. The Lockton Tate Partnership demonstrates our shared values and a commitment to supporting Tate’s mission of providing access to art for all. For more information, visit global.lockton.com/gb/en/tate or LinkedIn.


( Press Release Image: https://photos.webwire.com/prmedia/7/329274/329274-1.jpg )


WebWireID329274





This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.