Woetoe’s Reviews > Eiderdown Books Ithell Colquhoun 12 (Modern Women Artists). > Status Update

Colquhoun: ‘For myself, the automatism may be significant in itself, but frequently it is no more, though also no less, than a basis upon which a work of art, figurative or non-figurative, may be built. I am inclined to think that the best results will be obtained from interpreted automatism.’

The essay “Children of the Mantic Stain” drew on her experiences of teaching art to school children and focussed on the educational aspects of Surrealist methods “for all who find the actual beginning of a work of art a difficulty”. This was a creative approach for which she continuously advocated, demonstrating automatic techniques for beginners at various talks and via a BBC programme in 1948.’

‘Colquhoun describes how Carl Jung believed that only through a process of intently watching the contents of the alembic would the substance of the alchemist’s own fantasy world be released.‘

‘Automatism, or automatic techniques, are methods of art making which remove the concious or intentional aspects of creation; they include techniques such as decalcomania, in which wet paint or ink is pressed between two pieces of paper, such that the image is created by pressure and appears on both surfaces.’

‘Having worked in a predominantly figurative Surrealist style between 1936 and 1939, Colquhoun later recorded that following the trip to Chemillieu and the discussions around psychomorphology which took place there, she “began to use these automatisms in drawing and painting and continued to do so for twenty-five years.”