Lilith

Lilith, painted in 1889 and held at the Southport Arts Centre, depicts the figure from Jewish mythology who was, according to some traditions, Adam's first wife before Eve — a woman created equal to Adam who refused subordination and was cast out to become a demon. In the Victorian imagination, Lilith represented the archetype of the dangerous, autonomous woman — powerful, sexually threatening, and refusing male control. The subject was popular in Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist painting: Rossetti's Lamia Lilith (1868) established the type of the serpent-woman with hypnotic beauty and predatory intent. Collier's 1889 treatment comes at the height of British engagement with this mythological figure, as debates about women's rights, New Woman fiction, and anxieties about female autonomy pervaded social discourse. The figure of Lilith simultaneously allowed exploration of female power and contained it within the safely distanced frame of demonic mythology.

Oil on canvas shows Collier's ability to render the nude figure with academic competence while creating the mythological atmosphere required by the subject. The serpent iconography — Lilith is typically shown entwined with a snake — requires careful compositional management of both human and reptilian forms.