Colour, Convalescence, Cosmos: The Late Watercolours of Dr Grace Pailthorpe

Dr. Grace Winifred Pailthorpe (1883 -1971) brought scientific and artistic thinking together in her exploration of psychoanalysis, Surrealism and spirituality. This richly illustrated online talk examines her approach in the context of her watercolour paintings.

Grace Pailthorpe had a medical background, serving as a surgeon in the First World War, and went on to work as a doctor in a goldmine community in Western Australia. When she returned to Britain, she turned her attention from the body to the mind, studying and practicing psychoanalysis. She later pioneered a new form of art therapy.

While Pailthorpe had no formal artistic training, she exhibited internationally at Surrealist exhibitions. She also published experimental fiction and poetry. In the final years of her life, she explored spiritual philosophies.

This illustrated livestream talk will focus on the watercolour paintings Pailthorpe made in the 1960s and 1970s from her home in Sussex. It will place these in the context of her earlier Surrealist and psychoanalytic experiments, and will go on to discuss how they might relate to her interests in theosophy and the occult.

While her curiosity about the latter predated this point (she and artist Reuben Mednikoff visited a medium in Cornwall in the 1930s, and met at a party hosted by Victor Neuberg), spiritual interests were pursued with considerable commitment and energy in the final phase of her life.

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This talk will be recorded. A link to the full video recording will be available for replay to all those who book.

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