LA CATHEDRALE ENGLOUTIE, 1952
Oil on Canvas. 51½ x 77in. (131.0 x 195.0cm.)
Signed and inscribed with the title on the reverse.
Provenance
Sotheby’s studio sale, London, 24th April 1985, lot 535.
Christie's, London, 9th November 1990. Lot 231. Illustrated in colour in the
catalogue.
The Israel Museum Jerusalem, Arturo Schwartz collection. Accession
Number: B98.0426
Exhibited
Possibly Bradford, City Art Gallery, 1952 Jubilee Exhibition No. 824.
London, Royal Academy, 1952 No.755.
London, Women's International Art Club, 1953 No. 97.
Newlyn, Newlyn Art Gallery, 1961, No. 2. The work is visible in an
installation photo reproduced in Hardie, p. 123.
Exeter, City of Exeter Art Gallery, 1972, No. 14.
Penzance, Newlyn Orion Gallery, 1976, No. 21.
Jerusalem, Israel Museum, 2000-2001, No. 133, as 1948, illustrated in colour
(in reverse) in the catalogue.
An aerial view of two adjacent, and touching, stone circles with out-lying monoliths, standing on a small island. One stone circle lies half in and half out of the water, whilst the other stands fully in the water. The painting was almost certainly inspired by the stone circles on the islet of Er-Lannic. These are now half-hidden by the waters of the Gulf of Morbihan thanks to changes in sea level that have occurred since prehistoric times. When built, the monuments stood on a little hillside. Another work inspired by the megalithic remains of Brittany is Holed Stone, Carnac 1970.
The title is a reference to the Prelude for piano by Claude Debussy. The piece is a musical depiction of a legendary cathedral, submerged in ruins beneath the water, that mysteriously rises from the waves and into the sparkling light of day, then sinks again into the depths.
In 1980 Colquhoun offered to sell La Cathedrale Engloutie; Autumnal Equinox (1949) and Crucifixion (c.1953) to the Arts Council. However, the Council changed its purchasing policy and the discussions ended.
In The Sword of Wisdom, p163., the artist states that this was the first work she had submitted to the Royal Academy (in 1952) since her student days.
See also the note to Rocky Island (1969).
References
Colquhoun, I. The Sword of Wisdom. MacGregor Mathers and the Golden Dawn. Spearman, London 1975.
Hardie, M. (ed). 100 Years in Newlyn: Diary of a Gallery. Patten Press, Penzance, 1995. Visible in an installation shot.