In the summer of 1951, the British artist, writer and occultist Ithell Colquhoun travelled to the island of Cyprus, spending time with her close friend artist Elektra Mangoletsi Megaw and husband Peter.[1]
It was a trip that left an impression on Colquhoun. In biographical notes from later in the 1950s, she wrote of journeys to ‘Ireland, the Continent and notably Cyprus, summer 1951.’[2] Colquhoun never elaborated on why this trip was so notable, leaving instead a few traces and clues to follow. These include her Little Poems from Cyprus (published 1958) and two works on paper, made while on the island, titled Tekke of Um-Haram I & II (1951). These vibrantly coloured drawings depict the Hala Sultan Tekke – an important Islamic monument and mosque located on the west bank of the Larnaca Salt Lakes.[3] While the Salt Lakes have historically held religious significance for both Muslim and Christian Cypriots they were once a site of Goddess worship and, as legend recounts, a sanctuary of the Greek Goddess Artemis. It is likely that this rich history drew Colquhoun to the Tekke and Salt Lakes. Ancient sites such as stone circles, burial chambers and megalithic monuments had long held fascination for her wherever she travelled. Her interest in these sites went beyond their architectural and historical significance – to their potential as transmitters of sacred energy and as a manifestation of the Divine Feminine.[4]
Colquhoun’s two Tekke drawings were made at the same time using decalcomania, her most used automatic process. Splodges and blocks of vibrantly coloured inks were first laid out onto the surface of the empty paper, before pressing a second sheet on top. The resulting shapes and textures, revealed when the sheet was pulled back, formed the basis of both works, which were then drawn into further, each reflecting a different impression of the scene. Colquhoun’s drawings suggest layers of subterranean forces beneath the Tekke complex: smoky forms arise from deep within the earth while swirling energetic lines drawn in black ink surround and emerge outwards from a conical structure in the building’s centre. In a later essay Pilgrimage (1979), Colquhoun wrote of a network of power-centres that appear over the earth’s surface which she called ‘Fountains out of Hecate’. ‘To tap these chthonic power-centres,’ she wrote, ‘it is essential to be near them at the times when they erupt as geysers of energy.’[5]
Did she find such a force at the Hala Sultan Tekke in 1951? In one drawing, energetic lines transmit upwards, emerging like a beacon from the Tekke’s tower, showing a force that is ever flowing and in a state of transformation. Colquhoun’s drawings could be viewed not only as a visual representation of such a concept, but as a record of her own energetic experiences at the Salt Lakes. ‘What does the pilgrim do, once arrived?’ she wondered in her essay Pilgrimage. ‘Perhaps nothing, beyond holding himself in a state of expectancy; but anything that produces a state of readiness to absorb the forces presenting themselves will be a help.’[6]
November 2024
[1] Colquhoun first met Elektra Mangoletsi at The Slade School of Fine Art, London in 1927 where they were both students. In 1933, they travelled together in Greece where Mangoletsi met her future husband – the archaeologist Peter Megaw. From 1935-1960 Peter held the position of Director of the Department of Antiquities in Nicosia, Cyprus.
[2] Ithell Colquhoun, biographical notes, Tate Archive 929/8/10/4
[3] The Tekke also contains the tomb of Umm Haram, an important female figure in Islam and a close relative of the Prophet Muhammad.
[4] It is likely, through her association with the Megaws, that Colquhoun also visited archaeological sites and active excavations that Peter Megaw was working on in Cyprus such as the Byzantine basilicas of Agios Georgios (1950-53).
[5] Ithell Colquhoun, ‘Pilgrimage’ in Sangreal 2 no. 1, 1979. pp.29-31.
[6] Ibid. Colquhoun’s theories around energetic power centres show similarities with the concept of ley lines, popularised within the Earth Mysteries and New Age Movements of the 1960s – 1980s, but first defined by Alfred Watkins in his book The Old Straight Line (1925).
