Diagrams of Love: The World War II Occult Erotic Works of Ithell Colquhoun

Diagrams of Love: The World War II Occult Erotic Works of Ithell Colquhoun with Amy Hale PhD

From about 1939 to 1943 surrealist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun produced a significant number of esoteric erotic works that point to the development of a system of sex magic. It is remarkable in that it is likely the first time that an occult practitioner has left a visual record of theorizing about a sex magic program, and even more remarkable that it was done by a woman, incorporating queer desire and centering women’s sexual pleasure. This explicitly illustrated lecture will explore this body of work, the esoteric principles that shaped it, and consider the current relevance and resurgence of interest in Colquhoun’s work.

About Dr. Amy Hale

Dr. Amy Hale is an Atlanta based writer, curator and critic. She has a PhD in Folklore and Mythology from UCLA and her research interests include contemporary magical practice and history, art, culture, women and Cornwall. She has written widely on artist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun, notably the biography Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern Loved Gully (Strange Attractor) and the collection Sex Magic: Diagrams of Love, (Tate Publishing), and is currently editing a selection of Colquhoun’s esoteric essays for Strange Attractor (2024) She is the editor of Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses (Palgrave 2022) and has contributed essays for Tate, Ignota Press, Burlington Contemporary, Correspondences Journal, Camden Arts Centre, Art UK, Arusha Galleries, Heavenly Records and Spike Island, Bristol. Hale is an Honorary Research Fellow with Falmouth University in Cornwall, a trustee of the UK Charity Rediscovering Art by Women (RAW) and is a member of the British Art Network.

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