Ithell Colquhoun
Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988) was a British surrealist, occultist, poet, and writer.
Personal life
Margaret Ithell Colquhoun was born on October 9, 1906 in Shillong, a hill town in the far north eastern region of India situated between Bangladesh and Myanmar (Burma). Her parents were Henry Archibald Colebrooke Colquhoun and Georgia Frances Ithell Manley. Her education took place in Rodwell, near Weymouth, Dorset. She attended Cheltenham Ladies' College, spent a year at Cheltenham School of Art, and then the Slade School of Art in London, beginning in 1927.
Artistic career
Involvement with Theosophists
During her studies at Slade School of Art in London, she met Theosophist G. R. S. Mead and joined his Quest Society. She wrote an article called "The Prose of Alchemy" in one of that group's last periodicals, The Quest.
Her book Sword of Wisdom documents the Golden Dawn and its overlapping membership with the Theosophical Society.
Writings
- Sword of Wisdom: MacGregor Mathers and the “Golden Dawn”. London: Neville Spearman, 1975. First American edition, NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1975.
Additional resources
- Ithell Colquhoun in Wikipedia.
