31: Amy Hale - Sex, magic and surrealism – the art of Ithell Colquhoun

Amy Hale is an Atlanta based writer and critic with a PhD in Folklore and Mythology from UCLA. Her research interests include contemporary magical practice and history, art, culture, women and Cornwall. She has written widely on artist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun, and has been an academic advisor to the 2025 Colquhoun retrospective Ithell Colquhoun: Between Worlds at Tate St. Ives and Tate Britain. She wrote the first scholarly biography of Colquhoun,

Ithell Colquhoun Genius of the Fern Loved Gulley followed by the collection Sex Magic: Diagrams of Love, (Tate Publishing, 2024).

Her book, Beyond the Supernatural: Magic in Contemporary Art is due to be published with Tate Publishing in 2026.

Amy’s Website

Instagram

Treadwell's Lecture Series – here and here

Ithell Colquhoun (1906 –1988) "One of the most radical artists of her generation, Ithell Colquhoun was an important figure in British Surrealism during the 1930s and 1940s. An innovative writer and practicing occultist, Colquhoun charted her own course, investigating surrealist methods of unconscious picture-making and fearlessly delving into the realms of myth and magic. She explored the possibilities of a divine feminine power as a path to personal fulfilment and societal transformation. Her understanding of the world as a connected spiritual cosmos brought her to Cornwall, where she deepened her creative explorations, inspired by the region's ancient landscape, Celtic traditions, and sacred sites."

From Ocula.com Guardian article on Ithell

We talked about:

Some of Ithell's most iconic paintings and where she fits in the story of art

Surrealism and the lack of women

Fascinating developments in automatism and understandings of the subconscious

Colour theory and magic, from the Golden Dawn, anthroposophy and theosophy

Being an outsider...her relationship to occult and artist groups

Sex magic

Artists who don't receive recognition in their lifetimes

In the extended episode:

The Kabbalistic tree of life, The Golden Dawn and their influence on Ithell’s colour theory and palette

Crowley's table of correspondences

Colour mixing

The story of Amy’s Sex Magic contract with the Tate

Extended AND video episodes available at www.patreon.com/lucyhpearce

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