Reacting against what she saw as the conformity of life in Britain, between World War I and World War II Yarrow lived, worked and exhibited in Paris. During her time in Paris, Yarrow associated with many surrealist artists, including
Leonora Carrington,
Isamu Noguchi,
Marcel Duchamp and
Max Ernst. Her entry into this milieu was provided by an early acquaintance with the poet
Pierre Reverdy. She also formed an important relationship with
Alberto Giacometti. Yarrow studied etching at
Atelier 17, a workshop established in Paris by
Stanley William Hayter, an English printmaker, in 1929. This resulted in a number of prints characterized by surrealist and biomorphic forms. In the 1930s, Yarrow was also apprenticed to the potter
Josep Llorens i Artigas. Yarrow later discussed the importance of pottery in the development of her career: 'It wasn't until I came to the pottery that I had any craft. And that's why it was extremely important for me in the early thirties. [...] It absolutely changed by life - this pottery, this occupation and the craft.' In the 1930s Yarrow suffered an emotional breakdown and spent time in Switzerland, where she met
Carl Jung, and entered a clinic in
Morges where she underwent analysis. Yarrow's experience of undergoing Jungian therapy resulted in a series of watercolours, many of which feature menacing, brightly coloured geometric personages, and some of which specifically reference Morges in their titles. She used art as a way to cope with her anxiety, creating pieces with somber tones that reflected how she felt. Together with many other Surrealist artists fleeing the war, in 1940 Yarrow moved to New York, where she lived until 1948. Yarrow's move to New York was prompted in part by Hayter's relocation of Atelier 17 to the city in 1940, and she continued to associate there with surrealists in exile such as Ernst, Carrington and
André Breton. As well, she worked with New York ceramist
Carol Janeway who sold to
Georg Jensen Inc. (New York, NY) and is proposed to have built Janeway's kiln at the 46 East 8th Street studio, across from Hayter's Atelier 17. During this period, Yarrow became an acquaintance of the artist
Louise Bourgeois. In an interview with
Hans Ulrich Obrist, Bourgeois noted that the title of her sculpture
Portrait of C.Y. (c. 1947–49), made of painted wood and nails, was a reference to Yarrow. After her years in New York, Yarrow returned to Britain, where she focused increasingly on ceramics and pottery, establishing a workshop/studio that included an oil-fired kiln in the garden of her mews cottage in
St John's Wood. The 1950s and 1960s saw her experience a period of creativity, producing a diverse array of work in using mono print and pastels, as well as mixed materials such as sand. Associates during this later period of her career included the potter, founder and co-editor of the magazine
Ceramic Review Eileen Lewenstein. From the mid-1960s onwards, Yarrow also took up painting. During the 1960s, Cecile Elstein, the artist, was her studio pupil. == Exhibition history ==