Woman with Goat, 1949

framed dimensions: 73 x 61.5 cm

signed and dated lower left

Woman with Goat is part of a significant body of work that Robert Colquhoun began in 1948, exploring the recurring motif of women and goats. These images trace their origins to the summer of 1944, when Colquhoun and his partner Robert MacBryde visited the poet Sydney Graham and his wife Nessie in Cornwall. Nessie’s pet goats provided a vivid subject, and Colquhoun’s studies from life formed the basis for a sustained exploration of the feminine archetype, isolation, and the symbolic bond between woman and animal.
Executed as a monotype, Woman with Goat is a unique print made by transferring ink or paint from a smooth, hard surface to paper, and blends painterly immediacy with Colquhoun’s graphic strength. The figure and goat are rendered in bold, black line and a palette of sky blue, soft pink and yellows, creating a flattened, icon-like composition.
This monotype was likely produced at the same time he was producing a series of lithographs for Miller’s Press, a collaboration that coincided with a pivotal moment in Colquhoun’s career. In 1949, he travelled through Italy, visiting Brescia, Modena, Verona, Venice, Florence, Siena, and Rome; absorbing Renaissance art, puppet theatre, and traditional festivities such as the Palio in Siena. Although a planned book with writer George Barker featuring Colquhoun’s illustrations was never realised, the drawings and prints made during this time, including Woman with Goat, remain as lasting evidence of his visual and emotional engagement with myth, ritual, and human vulnerability.