biography

chronology 1906 Born 9 October at Shillong, Assam, India. 91e53, 25n34. Time: 9.15a.m.; Univ time: 3.46; Sid time: 10.59.57. Sun in Libra, Moon in Gemini, Venus in Scorpio, Mars in the mid-heaven, Sagittarius rising, ruling planet = Jupiter. Christened on 25 December, Christmas Day. 1907 Brought to the U.K. by her mother, who was pregnant with her second child. Spends first birthday on the liner carrying them to England. 1908 Brother, Robert Sutherland (Robin), born in Cheltenham, 11 March. October: Both children left in care of elderly spinster aunt, Martha Ithell Darton (Aunt Patty), in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, when mother goes back to India. [Martha dies 13 July 1915 at Montreux, Alpine Road, Ventnor.] Between 1908-13, several short trips to England by mother (and once by father). Ithell seems to have spent some time in Cheltenham, Wantage, Taynton and London, but predominantly Ventnor until 1911. c. 1918 Mother returns to UK permanently and settles in Cheltenham with children. 1919 September; enrols at Cheltenham Ladies College as day pupil. Prior to this had been educated at home by series of governesses, at least one ‘living in’. Studies at the College until July 1925. Described as having “very distinct literary gifts”. 1921 April 24th. Recorded on the night of the census as aged 14yrs and 6 months and being at 25 Park Place Cheltenham with her parents and a female servant. Father also there, on leave but brother not present. 1925 Enrols at Cheltenham School of Arts and Crafts. Attends until 1927. Studies drawing, painting, mural painting, portraiture, life drawing and lithography. Writes script, designs costumes and performs in an alchemically-themed one act play Bird of Hermes. Reworks the script as a short story. 1927 October; begins studies at the Slade School of Art, London. Studies there until 1931. Joins Fencing Club, Dramatic Society and plays for the University College 1st cricket XI. Described at the completion of her studies by the head of the painting department, Allan Gwynne Jones, as “one of the most brilliant students we have had” and by Professor Tonks as “an artist of rare ability with a very original and quick mind.” 1928 Joins the Quest Society, founded by G.R.S. Mead, former private secretary to Helene Blavatsky: attends meetings and gives at least one paper. Is the youngest member of the society. 1929 Awarded joint first prize in the Summer Composition, Slade School of Art, for large oil painting Judith Showing the Head of Holofernes. 1930 Publishes first article, The Prose of Alchemy in Quest magazine, it having been accepted for publication in May 1928. Article later described by the poet David Gascoyne as “one of the best, most stimulating, short introductions to the subject of alchemy considered as imaginative literature, that exists in English.” Joins the newly formed Search Society, founded by E.J.L. Garstin (Colquhoun’s cousin) that replaces the recently defunct Quest Society: attends meetings and presents papers. June: Awarded Diploma in Fine Art (Drawing and Painting). 1931 Unsuccessfully competes for the Rome Scholarship in Mural Painting (and also in 1932 and 1933). First visit to Paris: lived at No 7 Rue de la Grande Chaumière, whilst studying at the Académie Colarossi –occasional attendance at the Quick Pose Life Class. Almost certainly sharing with a Slade friend Jocelyn Chewett who was studying sculpture at the Academy Chaumière Zadkine. First exposure to work of surrealist artists, especially Salvador Dali. 1933 Visits Greece, staying with Elektra Magnoletski. Commences extensive and intense correspondence with Humfry Payne, archaeologist and Director of the British School at Athens, whom she met in Greece. 1935-1939 Living and working at Studio B, 49 British Grove, London. 1935 Ends relationship with Humfry Payne, writing: ‘I never expected an absolutely square deal, but I did not expect quite such an irregular polygon, and am not prepared to put up with it.’ 1936 February: first solo exhibition, at the Municipal Art Gallery, Cheltenham. Local dignitary J.D. Flowerdew Lowson purchases the oil painting Canna from the exhibition and presents it to Cheltenham Art Gallery – her first work to enter a public collection. Visits Tenerife. On return, docks in Southampton, 10 May 1936. Visits the International Surrealist Exhibition, New Burlington Galleries, London (11 June – 4 July). November: first solo exhibition in London, at the Fine Art Society. 1936-1937 Works on wall decorations for recently refurbished Morton in Marsh District Hospital, Gloucestershire. Paintings are on canvas, not mural or fresco. 1937 March. Becomes a member of the Artists International Association. Remains a member until February 1945, apart for a lapse in membership between March 1940-September 1942. 1938 Has an affair in Corsica with a local fisherman, José Orsoni. Later publishes some of his letters to her in View magazine. 1939 May: Visits André Breton, the leader of the surrealists, in Paris. May: Has portrait photographs taken in Paris by Man Ray. 9-24 June. Joint exhibition with Roland Penrose at the Mayor Gallery, London. June: At the invitation of Gordon Onslow Ford, spends time with Roberto Matta, Gordon Onslow-Ford and other surrealists at the Château de Chemillieu in the Rhône valley: first systematic exposure to automatic methods of painting. Breton writes to Onslow-Ford: Que pense de Chemellieu Mlle Eithel Colquon avec qui j’ai eu une conversation si interessante, si anime avant son arrive. Que fait-elle aussi? [What does Miss Eithel Colquon, with whom I had such an interesting, lively conversation before she arrived, think of Chemellieu? Also, what is she doing?] June: Contributes short prose pieces to London Bulletin – her first published imaginative writings. 1939- 1947 Recorded unfit for National Service because of asthma. Living and working at 45a Fairfax Road, London. 1940 April. Refuses to give unconditional support to E.L.T. Mesens leader of the London Surrealist Group; leaves the group and does not seek readmission. Meets and commences relationship with sixty-year-old father of eight, Franscesc D’Assis Gali, Spanish artist and one-time minister of Arts in the Spanish Republican government before being forced into exile. The affair ends when Colquhoun meets Toni del Renzio but continues as an occasional friendship until he returns to Barcelona in 1948 1941 Makes contact with poets and writers connected with the New Apocalypse movement. Commences correspondence with the poet J.F. Hendry, sending him stories and poems. They discuss the possibilities for apocalypticism in painting. 1942 March; introduced to Toni del Renzio, a Russian born Italian poet, painter and activist by Mary Wykeham. 1 April. Toni del Renzio inscribes copy of Arson “To Ithell Colquhoun. The flames begin to spread on the eve of what even Christians call ‘Passion Week’. Toni del Renzio 1 April ’42.” Between April and July, del Renzio moves into 45a Fairfax Road. 23 September. Death of father in Cheltenham. 1943 March Saves Toni del Renzio from bankruptcy by paying his printer’s debts, incurred by the publication of the magazine Arson. 10 July; marries Toni del Renzio at the Registry Office, Brentford. Witnesses are the surrealist artist Conroy Maddox and the otherwise unidentified Olive Bellamy. Has brief spell as Art Mistress at the Damian School, Ruislip, Middlesex, a preparatory school for girls. Examples of decalcomania by her students accepted for exhibition by the British Council. 1945 Publishes a series of technical articles on fresco techniques in The Illustrated Carpenter and Builder. Paints Dreaming Leaps in response to del Renzio’s attempt to inspire collective surrealist reaction to the suicide of Sonia Araquistain on 3rd September. 1946 Paints cover for June issue of Ideal Home magazine, depicting ‘The Homewood’ in Esher, Surrey, now considered a classic of Modernist architecture. 1947 Divorced. Two solo shows at the Mayor Gallery, one devoted to paintings and the other drawings. Most works employ automatic methods. 1947-1949 Living and working at 75 Parkhill Road, NW3. 1948 18 August. Takes part in live BBC television programme Eye of the Artist: Fantastic Art in which she demonstrates automatic techniques. Eileen Agar also a participant. 1949 Publishes The Mantic Stain, the first comprehensive account in English of a range of automatic methods of painting, including her own invention, parsemage. September. Purchases the studio at Bolton House from Gluck for £2,500. Now known as 7a Windmill Hill. Purchases a basic tin and timber studio and living accommodation in the Lamorna Valley, Cornwall which she christens Vow Cave. Used the studio for seasonal visits and also makes the occasion al holiday let. Last dated letter with Vow Cave address 18 May 1952, but she was still leasing it out in 1956. Property rebuilt after her death and now known as Cherrymeadow, Mousehole Lane, Paul, Penzance, TR19 6TY. 1950 Designs cover for Eidos magazine, a journal of painting, sculpture and design, which runs for three issues. 1951 Visits Cyprus. 1952 Admitted as probationer to the Ordo Templi Orientis, (O.T.O.) a magical order led by Kenneth Grant. Adopts magical motto: Splendidior Vitro; which she translates as “clearer than crystal” not ‘more sparkling than crystal’ as sometimes reported. Commences correspondence course for the Society of the Inner Light. 1955 Admitted to the New Isis Lodge of the O.T.O. Publishes The Crying of the Wind: Ireland. 1957 Publishes The Living Stones: Cornwall. 1959 Receives tuition from Terence Day (brother of Daphne Day) in his completely incomprehensible Magian Philosophy. 1960 Baptized into the Saint Église Celtique en Bretagne - the Ancient Celtic Church in Brittany. 1961 Publishes first novel, Goose of Hermogenes which had been completed by c.1940. April. Accepted into the Martinist Order (Ordre Martiniste & Synarchique; Britannic Grand Lodge). Visits Brittany with Ross Nichols, a leading British Druid and Robert MacGregor-Reid, Chief of the Druid Order. Takes part in a Breton Gorsedd and attends a religious Pardon. Ordained as Deaconess in the Saint Église Celtique en Bretagne. 1962 Starts to sign works with monogram derived from her magical motto rather than her given and family name. 2nd May. Received into the Order of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masonry for Men and Women, (Third Degree). 1963 Initiated as a master mason into the Holy Grail Lodge No 5. 1964 Begins to use enamel paint to produce ‘convulsive landscapes’. Begins making Merz collages, influenced by Kurt Schwitters. 1965 Conferred a Lady of Honour of the Order of the Keltic Cross. Joins An Druidh Uileach Braithrearchas, The British Circle of the Universal Bond, a Druid organisation. 1966 Takes a Nile cruise, led by archaeologist Veronica Seton-Williams, visiting many of the famous archaeological sites. Writes and illustrates The Blue Anoubis (unpublished), an account of the journey. August. Attends the 7th Annual Yeats Summer School in Sligo, Ireland. Travels to Dublin to meet Dorothy Emerson, General Secretary of the Theosophical Society. 1967 At her own instigation, appointed Bardess of the Clan Colquhoun. 1968 Publishes the first of a series of seven commissioned articles on holiday travel for the Times Educational Supplement. 1972 Retrospective exhibition at the City of Exeter Art Gallery. 1973 Publishes Grimoire of the Entangled Thicket, a volume of poems illustrated with her own drawings. 1975 Publishes Sword of Wisdom, a biography of MacGregor Mathers, the founder of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. 1976 Major retrospective at the Newlyn Gallery, Penzance: ninety works on show. 1977 Exhibition of paintings for a pack of Tarot cards at the Newlyn Gallery. Ordained as a Priestess of Isis by the Fellowship of Isis. 1978 February: resigns from the Freemasons. 1979 February: elected a Knight of Mark Twain in honour of her contribution to modern fiction by Cyril Clemens. 1983 Publishes Osmazone, an anthology of poetry and prose in an edition of 200 copies. Makes a number of small collages: these are her final artworks. Her final publication, ‘A Short List of Superstitions and Pagan Practices’, translated by Colquhoun from the Capitularia Regum Francorum, Paris, 1677 appears in The New Celtic Review. 1985 Admitted to nursing home, the Menwinnion Country House Hotel in Lamorna. Studio contents placed in storage. 1987 Stone Cross Cottage sold, 22 October. Made member of the Fellowship of Isis’s Iseum of “Isis of the New Moon” in Cornwall. 1988 Dies 11 April of heart failure at the Menwinnion Country House Hotel. Ashes scattered at Lamorna Cove in a ceremony attended by Frances Colquhoun, Edward Colquhoun, Alison and Medland Reynolds. Place of scattering now the modern car park. Page updated February 2026