Artistic biography as field theory: the case of Ithell Colquhoun - magician, surrealist, feminist

Abstract

Recent years have seen increased interest in the work of the British surrealist painter Ithell Colquhoun (1906–1988). This interest has been led by two constituencies: one feminist and the other esoteric. Both match dispositional characteristics of her work and address its significance within national and internal Surrealist movements. Rather than focus on feminist critiques or esoteric appraisals of Colquhoun, this article bases itself on the sociocultural aspects of her life and works. It builds on other studies from the author, which have employed the methodology developed by the French sociocultural theorist Pierre Bourdieu to the art “field.” Issues of research object construction are to the fore, together with analyses of the art and esoteric “fields” that involved Colquhoun. The article presents Colquhoun’s empirical biography (“habitus”), the networks she formed, and their relationship with the dominant “field” of cultural reproduction. Critical moments in her life trajectories are explored, detailing the breadth and focus of her influence with respect to the “Capitals”—“Social,” “Cultural,” and “Economic”—these levels of activities involved. Such analyses are set against exemplars from her painting as a way to compare the development of an esoteric aesthetic with her biographical experience. Issues of the artistic avant-gardes are also considered exemplified in her case. The article seeks to develop an understanding of the expressive impulse as it is manifested in transhistoric fields and the necessity of human creativity immanent within them.

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ORCID for Michael Grenfell: orcid.org/0000-0002-2038-0317

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