Born in India, Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988) was a British artist, writer and occultist, associated with the Surrealist movement. From 1939, Colquhoun primarily worked with Surrealist ‘automatic’ processes, in which an element of chance is incorporated into artistic techniques to suppress conscious thought. This is an automatic painting produced through the process of ‘decalcomania’. Paint is applied to two sheets of paper which are pressed together and then removed, creating a chance pattern. Colquhoun uses this pattern to trigger unconscious associations and imagery, which she has worked up with black ink to create the appearance of two islands in the ocean. This work is part of a series inspired by the myth of Santa Warna, the patron saint of St Agnes in the Isles of Scilly, off the coast of Cornwall. This theme reflects the artist’s interest in esoteric mythology and her love of the costal landscape of Cornwall, where her studio was located.
