PERMUTATION (I), 1969
Collage. 9¼ x 35in. (23.8 x 90cm.)
Signed with the monogram and dated lower right.
Provenance
David Lay, Penzance, 14th October 2003, lot 306.
Private collection.
Exhibited
Bristol, Bristol Arts Centre, 1970, No. 58.
Newlyn, Newlyn Art Gallery, 1971, No. 26.
Exeter, City of Exeter Art Gallery, 1972, No. 44.
Permutation (I) is an arrangement of brightly coloured discs of paper fixed to a black background. The discs are arranged in a matrix of 18 rows and 5 columns, according to the following scheme: each row contains two large red discs, two large lemon circles and one small gold circle. Each row also has two additional small gold circles centred upon one each of the large red and lemon circles.
It is unusual for Colquhoun’s work to be as geometrical and as abstract as the three works in the Permutation series. When abstraction does occur with Colquhoun, it generally has spiritual connotations, as in those works of the 1950s such as Heads of Angels (1952) and Ikon I Crucifixion (1954). If there is a spiritual dimension in the Permutation series it will lie in the colour symbolism. There are similarities with some of the meditation aids that she produced in the course of her researches. For example, regarding the Tree of Life, she plotted the colour attributions of the Sephiroth in the form of coloured discs. She also produced ‘flashing tablets’ using Golden Dawn colour symbolism for the planets, the zodiac and the elements. Although I can hardly believe that the present works are purely decorative, I have been unable to establish any convincing esoteric associations.