Biography

Catherine Yarrow was born in 1904 in Harpenden, near London. She studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) before moving to Paris at the age of 20, where she established close links with the Surrealist group. Yarrow studied engraving at Stanley Willian Hayter’s Atelier 17 print studio in Montparnasse, where Miró, Picasso and Giacometti also produced work. In the mid 1930s Yarrow moved to Zurich for psychiatric treatment under Carl Jung and his daughter Gret. Yarrow had a keen interest in psychoanalysis, and produced many dream-inspired etchings and watercolours during this period. She worked in various artistic mediums throughout her lifetime including painting, ceramics, monoprints, pastels, and experimented with different textures by mixing sand with colour. From 1940–48 she lived in New York, where she became a close friend of fellow artist Louise Bourgeois. Yarrow returned to Europe in 1948, where she continued to work from her London studio. In later years she led a reclusive life and destroyed much of her work and correspondence. Very little of her work survives; however, a cache of prints and drawings was discovered in Yarrow’s home after her death in 1990.