According to then Director of the Tate Gallery Sir John Rothenstein (1901-1992) this oil painting was first entitled Women Talking (and there is a monotype of the same composition at the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle - bought by Sir Colin Anderson (1904-1980) for the Contemporary Art Society in 1946); however, when it was shown at the UNESCO exhibition in Paris in 1946, the same year it was executed, it was called The Fortune Teller.
Women, either singly or in pairs, were a frequent motif for the Neo-Romantic artist Robert Colquhoun in his paintings, drawings, monotypes and lithographs during the years 1943–6. They have been interpreted by some as discreet portraits of himself and fellow Scottish painter and life-long partner Robert MacBryde (1913-1966) with whom he lived at 77 Bedford Gardens, London at the time. Its style is indebted to their mentor the Polish artist, Jankel Adler (1895-1949) and is similar to Woman with a Birdcage (1946) which was also purchased by the Contemporary Art Society from the artist’s solo exhibition at Alex Reid & Lefevre Ltd (The Lefevre Gallery), London by Anderson in February 1946 as the CAS elected buyer that year and presented to Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford in 1948. The Fortune Teller (1946) was owned by Anderson himself for 30 years and not gifted by him and his wife to the Contemporary Art Society until 1976 when it was then presented to the Tate.
