work

Galleries and Reading Room

Library

Shop

Café

We're experiencing some technical problems in the library today. 

If you’re visiting us, you won’t be able to print or use our PCs or laptops. If you want to sign-up for a free library membership, we’ll give you a temporary card for today and complete your membership next time you visit.

You can access items from the collection as usual and our team is on hand to help. Thank you for your patience while we resolve these issues. 

We're running paid user research studies to improve Wellcome Collection online

Take part in research

Creator's name and the date of creation are inscribed on the reverse, probably by Edward Adamson.

Adamson Collection

Identified works created in Adamson's studios

Works by Bishop, Mary

1 painting watercolour and pencil on paper

A woman wearing a red dress dancing on the left and a woman hanging from gallows on a black ground on the right

Two tall grey stick-figures, one with nose and mouth, the other eyes and mouth, pointing down at a small person seated cross-legged with head bowed in red

A skeletal person seated cross-legged with head bowed in red

A black ground

A person with blonde hair holding a green shape, possibly an iguana

The head of a woman with a frog and a snake underneath

A head with large blue eyes

An eye and a mouth

A huntsman in green holds a bow and arrow in a forest, next to a goat

A man and a woman in formal wear seated at a table with a green skeleton on a black, red, green and blue background underneath

A judge looking over a crowd of figures in silhouette and a man in blue shepherding a white goat to the right

A person standing with arms and legs outstretched in brown

"This will ruin you! But its all in the [interests] of Science"

A woman standing in a burning street

A woman holding her head in her hands with a window above on a black ground

A naked man wrestling with a tiger on a green ground

A humanoid figure squatting with arms raised, surrounded by red diagonal lines

Men and women dancing in couples

A witch jabs a long sharp finger at a young woman hiding in the hollow of a tree trunk

A man standing holding a multiple tailed whip

A nun in a mountainous landscape falling from a high ledge

Men and women ascending naked in a gulf between two black spaces

A woman wearing a green dress hanging from a brown tree

A naked woman being bitten in the torso by a brown fox

A pair of blue birds nesting in treetops with a red fox below

A woman in a corseted dress between brown trees on a green ground

A man in a monk's habit with a black bird to the right and a grey tree behind

A man in a monk's habit with a green tree behind

A person kneeling with hands raised and a hand above

"Washed up"

A bird in flight towards a moon in a black sky

'I would like a good doctor I could trust"

"Don't you see that I am all alone"

'Help me"

A woman wearing a green dress seated on a bed with a window behind her on a black ground

A man seen from behind kneeling in prayer among mountains

A skeleton wearing a blue jumpsuit on a raft with flag showing RAF ensign in the ocean

A man with red eyes kneeling with arms raised and the outlines of mountains in the background

A naked figure seen from behind praises the sun on a dark brown, purple and black ground

A man, possibly Jesus Christ,  crucified wearing dark purple robes

Black waves

A woman covering her eyes as she walks along a black path at the foot of a high stairway on a ground of blue, green, brown and black rectangular shapes

A woman bowed down before a high stairway arising between two black spaces

A woman in purple approaching a well near a gothic style building

A nude human figure with arms raised on a dark black and blue ground

A person standing manacled to the walls and floor of a gabled cell against a black ground

A woman falling down a gulf between a dark blue and black space

Head of a man being strangled by a green snake coiled around his neck

Head of a man being strangled by another man behind him

Head and shoulders of a person with a green snake wrapped around the neck

A drowning woman throwing up her arms

A woman standing with arms raised and knees bent surrounded by black blotches

Sadist in the white coat

A blonde woman wearing a blue dress being held and impaled by a larger humanoid figure

A blonde woman wearing a dress and holding a bouquet of flowers held by a larger humanoid figure

A woman standing next to a tree and five windows on a black ground

A smiling woman with a child stretching out its arms in embrace on a black ground

A woman in a green dress lying face down on a dark purple, red, green and black ground

Silhouettes of two figures holding clubs and a small green lizard

A person standing on the apex of a church steeple on a ground of shades of dark blue

Head with spiky hair looking through a gap in their fingers

A person sitting cross legged burying their face in their crossed arms, surrounded by black loops

Two men in striped robes holding a woman by the wrists about to throw her into a fire, watched by two other people

Three scenes showing a white bird being killed by a hunter and drained of blood on a table

White bird in flight on a black and red ground

A woman bowing down before a three-headed monster

A woman crucified on a Y-shaped cross on a dark purple, green, pink and black ground

Drawing of a woman with three faces and hands raised in multiple colours

A purple face with jagged green and yellow hair, and with crossed hands raised in front of the face

A woman with a weight attached to her neck by a chain with a body of water to her left on a pink and purple ground

Cri de Coeur

A naked woman with two witches to her left and a large hand to the right, on a pink, green, purple and black ground

A kneeling man raises his hands on a dark green, pink, purple and black ground

Blonde woman lying with head forward on a black ground with pale round moon in sky

A broken bowl

A crowd in a London street walking past an underground station

A girl standing with her arms raised against a background of multiple brick walls

A woman wearing a green robe and a yellow headdress burying her face in her hands on a dark purple ground

A barefoot woman bowing down with crossed arms on a dark blue, green, purple and black background

Head and shoulders with hands raised in yellow on pink ground

Red zigzags and loops

A blindfolded woman in purple illuminated by a lantern hanging from branches on a black ground

A man crucified on an X-shaped cross on a dark brown, red and black ground

Human figure standing with limbs, neck and torso twisted

Head with arms raised to spiky hair in blue and purple

A woman in purple and blue face down on a red and black ground

Two arms stretched out among red and green stars

A woman crying with a barred window behind her on a black ground

Two humanoid figures grasping at each other in red and purple

A naked person standing on a red road that is barred by a row of vertical black and beige arrows which leads to a pink sun on a purple ground

Person with arms raised above head on purple and pink ground

Head and torso of a person with hands covering face in pink and blue on a purple ground

Head and torso of a woman with arms raised in green on a purple ground

Person with arms raised above head on red ground

A woman with arms raised amongst green waves and a black sail boat against a red sky

A girl with a downturned mouth raising her hands in pink on a purple ground

Five hands in red and purple surrounded by red droplets

A woman with two pairs of arms, one pair raised, the other covering her eyes, in pink and red on a purple ground

A woman wearing a pink dress standing with six flowers at her feet on a purple ground

Head and shoulders of a purple humanoid figure with clawed hands raised on a red ground

The face of a person with arms raised

A person raising two pairs of arms in red and purple

A person raising both hands in red on a purple ground

A person in red outline raising arms on a purple ground with red dots

A woman raising her right index finger on a purple ground

Head and torso with arms raised in red on a purple ground

Head and raised arms of a person in red on a purple ground

A figure in red outline with raised arms on a purple ground

Head with arms raised in red on a purple ground

Three purple hands

Two raised arms with outstretched fingers on a red ground

A red humanoid figure's head and torso with crossed hands on a purple ground

Two raised hands in unpainted silhouette against a purple ground

A pair of red hands emerging from purple concentric circles on a brown ground

Purple diagonal lines with a pair of eyes in yellow and blue above

A man with blue eyes wearing a blue shirt

A woman with hands raised above head on a purple ground

Head with raised hands in purple

"Complete despair following the death of Doctor Yates"

"Fear of the mob"'

A skull on a black ground

"A dirty girl don't touch"

A woman in brown lying face down with hands covering face on a purple ground

Eye in purple, pink and red

'Sister Dullea"

'The old man of the sea"

"My father and my mother 1918"

'After all I have done, no one wants me"

"Dirty drowned in mud"

"Someone strangling me"

A human figure in brown outline split into a female side and male side by a wedge of pink, brown and purple darts and diagonal lines

"Half Man Half Woman"

A face in red and purple with red teardrops

'Mother figure"

'Two halves joining"

'A mother"

'Woman asking for help"

'Very frightening, perhaps going under an anaesthetic"

'The girl with no sensuous feelings"

'Two opposing forces"

"Clementine Mitford saying it makes me sick to look at you when I was ten"

'Fear of being kissed"

'A bishop"

'My thoughts, personalities, going round like rats in a hole unable to find the way out"

'Something awful"

"Faith, Hope, Purity, but no Love"

"A block"

Two faces in profile with red droplets in between

A face in red with purple and red y shapes and red crosses underneath

'Two eyes"

Red and purple droplets surrounding curved brown lines

A face with downturned mouth and raised arms, between grey vertical lines

"Personalities clashing"

'Chewing somebody"

"Anger against my father for having intercourse with my mother"

"Anger rage fury"

Red mouth biting off the neck of a stick figure with radiating red droplets

"Anger against Daddy for having intercourse with Mummy"

'Anger against my father"

"Guilt at having a hole"

'Myself about 8"

'A virtuous woman"

'A cup and saucer turned into the Holy Grail"

Black seaweed on a purple ground

Purple and green mountains against a grey sky with the sun and moon

"Horrible eyes ('I's') mixing with bags of guilt under them"

"Eyes"

"Opposing elements in myself joining up"

Two eyes and a downturned purple mouth in red and purple

"Defeat"

"A face torn in half by effort"

'Pain in the nerves of the back"

"I Am a Dead Bluebottle, I Can Neither Move Forwards or Backwards"

'My mother says I am a bluebottle"

A winged insect surrounded by vertical lines in purple and red, and a red asterisk shape surrounded by purple diagonal and vertical lines with crossbars

The faces of two red monsters with jagged teeth facing each other and a red grid

"The moon as a mother figure bringing peace and rest"

"The moon a mother figure"

"Blind mouths"

Two snakes entwined facing each other in red and pink

Chevrons, circles, rounded and angular shapes and rounded and vertical lines in pink and red

A woman with raised arms in purple

Collection contents

About this work

Also known as

Description

Publication/Creation

Physical description

Contributors

Arrangement

Notes

Subjects

Where to find it

Permanent link