Ithell Colquhoun (1906 – 1988)

Ithell Colquhoun (1906 – 1988)
Tree Anatomy, 1942
Oil on panel
57 x 29 cm
The Jeffrey Sherwin & Family Collection, permanently housed at The Hepworth Wakefield

Colquhoun’s Surrealist journey began with a 1931 Paris visit, later deepened by the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition. Briefly part of the English Surrealist Group (1939-40), her interest in the occult and marriage to Toni del Renzio led her to settle in Cornwall, earning the nickname Witch of Cornwall. Tree Anatomy, shown at Cartwright Hall in Bradford in 1943, features explicit female genitalia, yet surprisingly went unnoticed by local officials.