THREE-EYED FIGURE, 1942
Ink, chalk and watercolour. 18¼ x 15in. (47 x 38.3cm.)
Signed: Colquhoun ’42
Provenance
National Trust bequest.
Tate Gallery Archive
The outline of the figure in this hairless bust is the same as Christian Marriage Figure (1942).
The original title – if this work ever had one – is unknown. The name given by the cataloguer draws attention to one of its most obvious distinguishing features, but she may just as well have titled it four nippled figure. Streams of liquid flow from the tear ducts and from the nipples, pooling at the base of the figure. In contrast to the bright, luminous colours of most works of this period, the colours here are very muted: pale blue irises for the eyes, pale lilac for the lips and pale yellow for the streams of fluid.
The symbolism is obscure but the fluid streams relate it to The Thirteen Streams of Magnificent Oil (c.1940).