From the magazine

An exhilarating, uneven survey of an outstandingly eccentric British surrealist

Some of Ithell Colquhoun's work is staggering good – other bits belong in Camden Market

Hermione Eyre
‘Alcove’, 1946, by Ithell Colquhoun © Spire Healthcare, © Noise Abatement Society, © Samaritans
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 01 March 2025
issue 01 March 2025

Hermione Eyre has narrated this article for you to listen to.

Ithell Colquhoun was always a bit of a mystery surrealist. Her greatest hit is the unsettling, dream-like ‘Scylla’ (1938), a painting of two towering cliffs, which could equally be thighs in the bath. The prow of Odysseus’s Argo peeps through them.

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