This book offers the first in-depth biographical study of the British surrealist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun, situating her art within the magical contexts that shaped her imaginative life and work. After decades of neglect, Colquhoun's unique vision and hermetic life have become an object of great renewed interest, both for artists and for historians of magic.
Although her paintings are represented in such major collections as Tate Britain and the National Portrait Gallery, Colquhoun's rejection of both avant-garde and occult orthodoxies resulted in a life of relative obscurity. Her visual and written works have only recently received adequate recognition as a precursor to contemporary experiments in magical autobiography and esoteric feminism.
After rejecting the hectic social expectations and magical orthodoxies of London's art and occult scenes, Colquhoun pursued a life of dedicated spiritual and artistic enquiry embodied in her retreat to Cornwall. Genius of the Fern Loved Gully balances engaging biography with art historical erudition and critical insight into the magical systems that underscored her art and writing.
Amy Hale is an Anthropologist and Folklorist specializing in modern Cornwall and contemporary esoteric history and culture. She has published academic and popular articles on topics such as modern Druidry, Cornish ethnonationalism, Arthurian lore, color theory, occult aesthetics, and extremist politics in modern Paganism. She has written widely on artist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun, and her biography of Colquhoun, Genius of the Fern Loved Gully has been published by from Strange Attractor Press. She is also the editor of the forthcoming Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses (Palgrave Macmillan). She resides in Atlanta with her family, five cats, and a 250-year-old oak tree. Follow her writings at https://medium.com/@amyhale93.
This book offers the first in-depth biographical study of the British surrealist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun, situating her art within the magical contexts that shaped her imaginative life and work. After decades of neglect, Colquhoun's unique vision and hermetic life have become an object of great renewed interest, both for artists and for historians of magic.
Although her paintings are represented in such major collections as Tate Britain and the National Portrait Gallery, Colquhoun's rejection of both avant-garde and occult orthodoxies resulted in a life of relative obscurity. Her visual and written works have only recently received adequate recognition as a precursor to contemporary experiments in magical autobiography and esoteric feminism.
After rejecting the hectic social expectations and magical orthodoxies of London's art and occult scenes, Colquhoun pursued a life of dedicated spiritual and artistic enquiry embodied in her retreat to Cornwall. Genius of the Fern Loved Gully balances engaging biography with art historical erudition and critical insight into the magical systems that underscored her art and writing.
Amy Hale is an Anthropologist and Folklorist specializing in modern Cornwall and contemporary esoteric history and culture. She has published academic and popular articles on topics such as modern Druidry, Cornish ethnonationalism, Arthurian lore, color theory, occult aesthetics, and extremist politics in modern Paganism. She has written widely on artist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun, and her biography of Colquhoun, Genius of the Fern Loved Gully has been published by from Strange Attractor Press. She is also the editor of the forthcoming Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses (Palgrave Macmillan). She resides in Atlanta with her family, five cats, and a 250-year-old oak tree. Follow her writings at https://medium.com/@amyhale93.
