biography

introduction For the main outline of Colquhoun’s life and career, visit the chronology page. Autobiographical information is scattered through Colquhoun’s published writings, although she is not always accurate nor consistent. The main sources are “The Crying of the Wind: Ireland”; “The Living Stones: Cornwall”; “Sword of Wisdom” and her catalogue introduction to the Newlyn retrospective of 1976. Unpublished letters that survive help fill out some of the details, especially in respect of important personal relationships. Her unpublished writings, including essays and some poems, also contain information about certain people and events, but because they are the result of a creative process their fidelity to historical accuracy cannot be assumed. They may have been written to help her process and understand important personal matters. With this caveat in mind, the pages in this section begin to explore some of these barely known, unpublished sources.