Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/robert-colquhoun-932" aria-label="More by Robert Colquhoun" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Robert Colquhoun</a>
Woman with Leaping Cat
Purchased 1954
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
adults
animals: actions
animals: mammals
ball
cat
domestic
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
furnishings
hand / hands raised
interior - non-specific
interiors
isolation
leaping
leisure and pastimes
objects
people
playing
recreational activities
sports and games
supporting
table
woman
<p>Women, either alone or in pairs, were frequent motifs for Colquhoun between 1943 and 1946. Through these figures he conveyed the themes of poverty, old age, isolation and a 'resignation to the human condition'. His tragic subjects seemed poignant and relevant in the aftermath of the Second World War. This was one of a group of paintings Colqhoun exhibited at the Lefevre Gallery in London in 1946. Many critics admired his deft handling of oil paint, rich imaginative colour and confident use of a post-cubist idiom. The latter, in particular, suggested a remarkable understanding of continental avant-garde style at a time when British artists had been isolated from the rest of Europe by war.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
22 November 2014 – 25 May 2015
2015-05-25
22 November 2014 – 25 May 2015
2015-05-25
2014-11-22
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh, UK)
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/
2014-11-22
The Two Roberts
Loan-out
17 April 2018 – 12 August 2018
2018-08-12
17 April 2018 – 12 August 2018
2018-08-12
2018-04-17
Von der Heydt Museum (Wuppertal, Germany)
2018-04-17
Jankel Adler - A Revolutionary and the Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde
Loan-out
Woman with Leaping Cat
support: 767 × 610 × 20mm
frame 1010 × 860 × 55 mm
Purchased 1954
<p>Women, either alone or in pairs, were frequent motifs for Colquhoun between 1943 and 1946. Through these figures he conveyed the themes of poverty, old age, isolation and a 'resignation to the human condition'. His tragic subjects seemed poignant and relevant in the aftermath of the Second World War. This was one of a group of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> Colqhoun exhibited at the Lefevre Gallery in London in 1946. Many critics admired his deft handling of oil paint, rich imaginative colour and confident use of a post-<a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/cubism" title="Glossary definition for 'Cubism'"><span>cubist</span></a> idiom. The latter, in particular, suggested a remarkable understanding of continental <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/avant-garde" title="Glossary definition for 'Avant-garde'"><span>avant-garde</span></a> style at a time when British artists had been isolated from the rest of Europe by war.</p>
Display caption
2004-09-03T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N06211</b> WOMAN WITH LEAPING CAT 1945
<br/> 
<br/>Inscr. ‘Colquhoun’ b.r.
<br/>Canvas, 30×24 (76×61).
<br/>Purchased from the Redfern Gallery (Cleve Fund) 1954.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Purchased by Oswald Falk from the Lefevre Gallery 1946; Redfern Gallery.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> <i>Fifteen Recent Paintings</i>, Lefevre Gallery, February 1946 (22); <i>British Contemporary Painters</i>, Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, and U.S. tour, 1946–7 (11, repr.); British Council, <i>Five Contemporary British Painters</i>, Canada tour, 1952–3 (2); <i>Abstract, Cubist</i>, <i>Formalist, Surrealist</i>, Redfern Gallery, April–May 1954 (338); Whitechapel Art Gallery, March–May 1958 (36, repr. in colour).
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>Studio</i>, CXXXIV, 1947, p.43; <i>Tate Gallery Report 1954–55</i>, 1955.</p>
<p>One of a series of similar subjects. A ‘Seated Woman and Cat’, 1946, belongs to the Arts Council and was exhibited at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, March–May 1958 (37, repr. pl.6); there was a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/monotype" title="Glossary definition for 'Monotype'"><span>monotype</span></a> ‘Woman with Cat’, 1945, in the same exhibition (196).</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-08T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: expressive actions: postures and motions adults animals: actions animals: mammals ball cat domestic emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas furnishings hand / hands raised interior - non-specific interiors isolation leaping leisure and pastimes objects people playing recreational activities sports and games supporting table woman